
tv 

V-^^U<; 




















y % // 

V V < 7 -* A\\V ^ C. 

/« K ^ o\' 

1 I R . 0 ^ C- A 

V ' 0 r\ c *< 

^ O 


fN R C ’ ^ ^ 


:s l> ^ 




. ^ o>'^ 0 

, , . . , 0 S 0 ’ \N^ , , „ ^ 8 , A " ' ^ 


'-?/ ^ 0 r^ \. '^ iX)' 

fl . 0 ^ c 


‘V O ^ tVii'l^^ ^ 

v> ^ -t- 


& 


if it 


s • 


%%'M 
^ 0 « ^ 


O O'* C 4* r^ 

1'/ ^ ^ A^ ?!%. A' 

^ ' ■'o o'" " v^ 


o 



. ,<.A" 



aa " 

C 

0^' 



^ ^ F 8 

A ^ 

r rA K 




x0o<. 




iV 




N C 


^ -v 

\ ^ ry if ^ 

j c '^ '\ o y 

/A., 


'• A. 

^ \V 




•x^ 


V 


^ o' : 
-A -- 

V rk. ^ 





.\0 


^ 8 K' “ -,88/ ^ 

- v-i'- % 

A- -' -SSi^ " A'.o 


5 ^-: 


“'f- 


s '' ' \' '^ 

_oi' 0 , ■<;, •“ >.b> „> 


-<> ■'> '}>, 




* 


4 it 


y. t\ 

; K 


o > c « 

0° ,, 








L ^ 


I ' 'V^ * ^> ^ \/n 

1°. :m 


.9^; 

<\^ <k- -a '^■<<‘ V. ^ 


•fe 

-\ 


> .V 

-5 y -i. aV ^ , 

X- ' . "■ 0 , V ^ ^ « S ^ .0 , , fl ' 

x\ ^.^ ' « » -^b, ,0^ c <■, -Pp •■^.'5' Ji * 

^ f ^ a' * £^({17^. t 





A -r , ■. ^ 

' vV • ^- '^ » > ' ^> 

\> ^ ^ -- ^\0^ ^ ^ 

■^ f'i. '-I %. 'V <4- 

\V ^ ccCv'^S'/fe ® 

m - 




y' '■ * >^5" A 

r* ^ * ,'?-‘ 

O -y 3 . 0 ^ \'^' 




^ \ 


-3- “ 




'' 


'h- ^ .X, 

H' ^'Iw 



^^v-.A':^' * 


c3> 



s 

^ \ ‘Ti 

c,>' ^ - (^:if=a, ^ 

»:>? V' •>^. ^ (i 

y V c^ * 

O'^ fl- -C'-W ^ V 

u- 

^ -0- 0 V 0 • \^-’^ 

^81* ^*v V. ^ «■ A '/i- ^ N \‘ 

0‘ C' V 

*'. ^</> aV ^ 

OQ 




“ vl'? -' 

-i '^ , 

'-?^, ^ 0 , .1^ *“ ^ ^ 

b_ 

^ 

;^A.. ^ 


.A-' 


J ^ 

'• c'^ ^ ^ it " 

(■\ k C T 

cP .‘‘^;y,-V ' 

) « "i; 

-/M 

%.y».,<‘'y 

' ' y ^'' 





=> o"^ yj 


rt : 


c- ^ 

^ . "^ ■) SI o ^ 

S » <■ y • /- " ^ ’ 

- O C' V- 

* Vi 

'- '<0^ f 




'=^. ^ 

\1.‘ 

^r 

S‘ 

ri-'^ 


. y'~ 

* 0 y 

^ (5 

Cji ■'* 

^^-<5 n r- 











> 


I . 


• i. 

r 




» 


« 



» « 








1 





I • ^ f , • 


• ■ 


< r . 




' -* . f * I » * ^ • 


4.4 


:'-^' df 


\ 


i " V 

* f.*' 



I » 


* • I 






I • • 


‘ -V* 

► , . .. — 

>» 


I, r. \ 


• ws 

ir 




A 

t 


■ • 


* 

i. 


■t,' 


4 

T«" 


V •»■ ^ JV 


• ^ 


4 




•I : 


• r'-. ^ ' 


N 


• * k ... 




< I* 





>» * • 


I V.. ■. 


A, 

.1. 


A. 


> « 


, if* •” "'<s'i ' '• •' *' ’* f*. •! •»«n'^-i' v 4 ."''jd 


• ’ k ■* ^ • I 




> 

•- c 


J 


. •, 




« I 
1 

» » 

. «• ' 






1- ‘ ••■ 

* '4' •’ ^ 




. \ 


' y^'v 

I 4h ' 


i . 


• I 


*■ 


t. 

I 

>' 

.• 

r* 




/> 


1 ' *• 
* ‘ . A 


' 




•' k’". 


i /■ 
f 1 


ft ( 


T' ‘ 

\. 

'K 


•A ^ 


iv 


' ' '•', * 

> B ■ 



/ 


* ^ 1 ’ .> •. ■*- • . A<z 

^ . ' - : -'- *• xj 



.•-■A,’ „ 


U.' 




» ' 


■yf* . •; 

• ' ' ^ i"'- ■ 

• j ^ • 



J--' . ,^ ■ .....^ -■ V«4“ ; ■* yV 

^T/ ^ 


\* 


( 


V 




•f 


* t 




'•V ^ } 


4 . 


h*. • . ^ 

^ .. 




^ % 




/ 

«.' * 



1 ’ 

.t' i 


v*. 


• r , I 

Ik' ^ 

■ S mi 


• • 




. .*V ^ f ■7’'* * 

4 r » f 






’ •< 





:i V • ‘ ^ 


i/j ' ^'l . -i,- B-rt' * '■’ .V 

/ t •'! * / .I-** ■* .'••,’"Ji* - .•• .. ‘t'l A* ^ i i t^i. ‘ ^ ^-m m. Ak m ' M’ « - -^P, •* 

LiL^ •:* ^ . * .* ^ , • ^ ^ Y/v r-^if 

f*. *V . ‘ - .1 , .'J 4«^V f ^ 7 ».*jn 




4 ^: 


^r’ 


j, I 

4 


• 5 N ■ 




^ ■.« 



;:V , -•■■ 


I , 

I f K 


'.'i.iL.*»i. * •'. .J ' 





IN THE COUHTYAKD THE EMPEUOK KEVIEWEI) THE GUENAUIEKS OF 

THE GUAKD. 


MADAME SANS-GfiNE. 


BY 


VICTORIEN SARDOU, 

IN COLLABORATION 

Emile Moreau and Edmond Lepelletier. 
' n 






& 




5*SKg!%N 


/fi-rs'CL^ 


R. P. PENKO & COMPANY 

112 Fifth Avenue, New York City. 






V 


^ (j? 


Copyright 1894 and 1895 by 
DRALLOP PUBLISHING CO. 


Madame Sans-GSae. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I. The Fricassee 15 

IL The Prediction 19 

III. The Last Night of Royalty ... 25 

IV. A Chevalier of the Poignard ... 29 

V. The Bed-Chamber of Mam’zelle Sans- 

Gene 38 

VI. Little Henriot 41 

VII. The Lodger at the Hotel de Metz . 48 

VIII. The Pretty Sergeant . . . *55 

IX. The Indebtedness to Madame Sans-Gene 59 

X. The Intercepted Letter .... 64 

XI. In* the Home of the Fruit-dealer . 69 

XII. The Young Lady of Saint-Cyr . . 74 

XIII. The First Defeat for Napoleon . . 80 

XIV. The Siege of Verdun .... 83 

XV. Madame Sans-Gene on Secret Service . 86 

XVI. The Deserted One . ... .94 

XVII. The Arrival of the Volunteers . . 99 

XVIH. The Envoy from Brunswick . . . 102 

XIX. The Oath of Beaurepaire . . , 106 

XX. Leonard’s Mission 112 

XXL The Camp of the Invaders . . . 114 

XXII. Catharine's Second Charge . . .120 

XXIH. The Death of a Hero .... 123 

XXIV. On the Borders of Oblivion . . .129 

XXV. Jemmapes 134 

XXVI. The Nuptial Mass 141 

XXVII. The Debt of the Wounded . . . 150 

XXVIII. Before the Battle 158 

XXIX. The Victory of Song .... 163 

XXX. Yeyette 166 

XXXI. Madame Bonaparte . . . . 172 

XXXII. The Sword of the Pyramids . . .179 


XIV 


page 

XXXni. The Dancing-Master .... 183 

XXXIV. The Clap of Thunder .... 188 

XXXV. The Committee of the Rue Bourg 

TAbbe 195 

XXXVI. The Plan of Leonidas . , . . 199 

XXXVII. The Glory of that Time ... 202 

XXXVIII. Lefebvre Seeks Information . . 207 

XXXIX. The Entry into Berlin . . . 214 - 

XL. The Word of a Prussian . . . 223 

XLI. Before Danzig 231 

XLII. Josephine’s Secret 235 

XLIII. Catharine’s Dessert .... 241 

XLIV. A Love History 245 

XLV. Old Memories . . . . . 251 

XLVI. *‘Long Live the Emperor” . . . 259 

XLVII. Napoleon’s Secret .... 265 

XLVIII. The Loves of Napoleon . . . 270 

XLIX. The Duke 277 

L. With the Empress .... 281 

LI. Catharine’s Revenge .... 287 

LII. The Russian Alliance .... 289 

LIII. The Austrian Alliance . . . 298 

LIV. The Divorce 301 

LV. Lefebvre Rebukes Napoleon . . 310 

LVI. The Heart Aflame .... 315 

LVII. The Dream of the Archduchess . 319 

LVIH. The Imperial Message .... 326 
LIX. Napoleon’s Jealousy .... 330* 

LX. Fouche’s Disgrace 338 

LXI. The Return ..... 342 

LXII. The Faith of the Washerwoman . 349 

LXIII. ‘‘You Lie, Monsieur” . . . 356 

LXIV. The Debt of the Duchess . * . 359 


MADAME 


SANS-GENE. 


I. 


THE FRICASSEE. 

The Rue de Bondy was brilliant with the glitter of a 
thousand lamps. The Vauxhall, most popular of resorts, 
was dazzling with its own illumination that the crowds 
might the readier find entrance to the ball going on 
within. 

These were the grand days of ’92. Louis XVL was a 
royal dummy, but the liberty cap had already dropped 
upon his he^d and would soon settle down on his 
shoulders. 

Paris was wild with revolt and mutterings of revolu- 
tion hung upon the air. 

Robespierre, Marat and Barbaroux had already con- 
ferred and while they could not agree upon a chief, 
they were as one upon the infamies of royalty, upon 
their great duty to sack the Tuileries, the fortress of 
the crown. 

They only awaited the battalions from Marseilles, their 
arrival would be the signal to uprise. 

The King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria 
were preparing to throw their armies into revolutionized 
France, counting on the treason and dissensions of the 
people to make rosy their path to the capital. 

Paris realized the danger, and responded to the defi- 
ance of the Powers by organization. 

But Paris is ever a volcano with two craters, pleasure 
bursts forth with fury. 

They were arming in the suburbs, they laid wagers in 
the clubs and at the Commune, they distributed car- 
tridges to the National Guard, they made all the prepara- 


ing reflection upon her social acquirements and turned 
full of fire to resent it. “ I can dance the fricassee, and 
I dance it with whom I please. I don't dance it with 
you, for example! But if your comrade there invites 
me politely — why — well — I don’t know but that I might 
join in with the volunteers. Of course, if there is no 
hard feeling. Is there any, sergeant ? ” 

A coy glance from her large eyes, and her hands 
extended towards Lefebvre were more than he could 
resist, even though he felt disposed, and so he seized 
the offered reparation exclaiming: 

“ Hard feelings! Not a bit of it, Mademoiselle! Again 
I beseech your forgiveness for my intrusion. It is not 
all my fault I assure you; it is partly the fault of my 
comrade here; now” 

The girl did not wait to hear any further explana- 
tion of the young man’s shortcomings, but suddenly 
interrupted him with the exclamation: 

“ Say, ain’t you an Alsatian ? ” 

“ No, I am a native of the Upper Rhine. I was born 
at Ruffach.” 

“Why, what luck! I am from Saint Amarin.” 

“ Then you are a countrywoman of mine ? ” 

“Yes', and you a countryman of mine! ” 

“ What is your name ?” 

“ Catharine Upscher, washerwoman, Rue Royal, cor- 
ner of the Rue des Orties Saint Honore.” 

“ And I — I am Lefebvre, ex-sergeant of the Guards, 
at present on^ of the militia.” 

“ Then come, my countryman, we must be friends, 
we will dance that fricassee to which we owe our 
acquaintance.” 

She seized his hand without another word and in a 
moment they were one of the whirling crowd of reck- 
less dancers. 

As they turned in wild disregard of everyone else 
they came in violent contact with a young man who 
stood indifferently watching the merriment he appeared 
to have no part in. His face was very pale, almost 
sallow, his hair was long and drooped over his ears like 
a veil, his expression was shrewd and keen and he was 
clothed in a long Hebraic cassock. As he recoiled 
slightly with the shock of the collision, he said in a 
shrill voice: 

“ Ahj ha, Catharine, so you have captured the 
Guards, eh ? ” 


19 


Do you know this Catharine ? " inquired Berna- 
dotte, who at the moment came near the sallow youth. 

“ Oh, yes, I have that honor,” replied he of the eccle- 
siastical habit, “ she is my washerwoman, a good 
washer, a good girl, brave, womanly, and virtuous, her 
heart in her hand and her tongue perpetually in motion. 
Through all our quarter, on account of her frank speech 
and her guileless manners, she is known as Mam’zelle 
Sans-Gene ” * 

The blare of the orchestra drowned every other sound 
and the rest of the conversation was lost in the joyous 
tumult of the fricassee. 


II. 

THE PREDICTION. 

The dance was concluded and Sergeant Lefebvre 
conducted his fair companion to her seat. His ready 
wit and her facile tongue smoothed away the frowns of 
anger that erstwhile sat upon their brows, and now, as 
they threaded their difficult path through the turbulent 
throng, they appeared as two lovers rather than as 
acquaintances whose friendship began but a few 
moments before with an interchange of cutting per- 
sonalities. 

The night was warm, and as his charming partner 
cooled her flushed face with a convenient fan, Lefebvre 
suggested that they sit at a table near by and enjoy the 
ices and refreshing drinks with which the busy waiters 
w'ere laden down. 

Accepted ! ” Catharine cried aloud, jumping to her 
feet, and then as if in second thought, she hesitated and 
added, “Oh, dear, I have no manners at all; I should 
have said that much slower, but you seem to be a nice 
fellow and somehow I don’t want to refuse you — and 
then, besides, that fricassee has given me an awful thirst. 
Come on ! ” 

They reached the coveted seats only a step in advance 
of several other couples making for the same goal, and 
Catharine spread herself over the superfluous chair that 


* Sans-Gene — without restraint, free, familiar. 

(At this writing, November, 1894, the famous Vauxhall is being de- 
molished to make room for modern buildings.) 


20 


tnight, she thought, offer an invitation to some one else 
to join them. 

“ What will you have ? ” she demanded, at the same 
time hissing through her teeth to attract the attention 
of a passing waiter. 

“ I thought, perhaps, my friends would join us,”' 
Lefebvre explained, to account for the minute’s hesita- 
tion after they had reached the chairs; “ you see in the 
militia, as in the ’Guards, we like to invite our 
friends ” 

“ Why certainly, certainly ! I understand, your com- 
rades ? Eh ! Well, invite them, of course. Where are 
they ? I will call them.” 

And without a moment’s hesitation Catharine leapt 
upon the table, and raising her arms in the direction of 
the three guardsmen who were standing a little distance 
away, regarding the couple with raillery in their eyes 
and on their tongue, she shouted at the top of her voice: 

“ Hello, hello ! Come here, you boys, don’t you want 
to eat and drink like other people ? Come here where 
we are ! ” 

The three guardsmen, attracted by this informal 
method of invitation, lost no time in its acceptance and 
moved over towards the hospitable board. 

“ Come along, Bernadotte ! ” one of them said, seeing 
that he held back. 

“No, I want to say a few words to the Citizen,” 
Bernadotte answered in a surly tone, although, as a 
fact, his reason was but an excuse to avoid meeting the 
favored Lefebvre, whose wooing had been successful 
where Bernadotte wished to make an impression him- 
self. And so he separated himself from his associates, 
while they were forced to point him out to Catharine 
and the sergeant, as he stood in the distance near the 
sallow-faced young man and a new-comer, who had 
joined him. 

“ He wants to talk to the Citizen, does he ?” Catharine 
sneered. “ I know that Citizen and he knows me, well 
enough. Heh, ‘Citizen Fouche, wont you come here?’' 

Fouche disengaged himself from his friends and 
joined the merry party at the table, where Lefebvre was 
already shouting loudly for hot wine and more chairs. 

“ My dear Mam’zelle Catharine,” Fouche gallantly 
murmured. “ I am delighted, charmed to find you in 
the company of these valiant defenders of our good 
city ” 


21 


But before he could say more, Catharine pushed a 
glass of wine into his hand and bade him drink, drink 
to the four fighters and the civilian. 

Catharine and Lefebvre, with the meaningless senti- 
ment born of a new love, were sipping their ordinaire 
from the one glass and twining their arms about each 
other’s neck, a touch of human nature so general in the 
Vauxhall as to excite no remark until Lefebvre, embold- 
ened by the wine or induced by the tempting lips of 
the voluptuous damsel, attempted to steal a kiss only to 
meet the palm of a pretty hand and feel Catharine 
draw away from him, as she said: 

“No, my countryman, . not that. I will laugh and 
joke, but it goes no further.” 

Fouche burst into boisterous laughter. 

“Ah, ha! my dear militiaman, you didn’t expect to 
find such virtue in a washerwoman! <h, did you, now?” 
he said. 

“Now listen,” Catharine commanded, “ you Citizen 
Fouche, you have trusted me with your washing for 
three months, ever since you came from Nantes; have 
you ever heard one word against me?” 

“ Never! Nothing! Absolutely nothing! ” 

“Very well, then, I consented to come here and have 
a little pleasure, to dance the fricassee, to pass the time 
with these good fellows as you find us, but that is all, no 
one has ever seen the inside of my room. My shop is 
open to the world, but my room — only one person shall 
ever have the key to that! ” 

“And who may the lucky individual be?” asked 
Lefebvre, twisting his mustache and tipping back in 
his chair. 

“My husband!” responded Catharine with fiery 
vehemence, and seizing a glass she held it aloft, while 
with a merry laugh she looked at Lefebvre and asked, 
“ You hear, my countryman, what do you say to that? ” 
“ I say that is, perhaps, not an altogether disagreeable 
condition,” the sergeant answered while he twisted his 
mustache more furiously than before, “ and here is to 
you, Mam’zelle Sans-Gene! ” 

They all drank heartily to this toast, and as they 
returned their glasses to the table their attention was 
attracted by a singular-looking man slowly approach- 
ing the spot where they sat. lie wore a tall hat that 
ran into a point, his figure was concealed by a long 
black robe spangled with silver stars, with blue crosses 


22 


and with vari-colored comets trailing long tails of 
fiery red. 

“ Here comes Fortunatus ! ” said Bernadotte, who 
joined the party. “ He is a fortune-teller. What do 
you all say to a mild adventure ?” 

“Yes, surely,” exclaimed Catharine. “I want to 
know my destiny. Call him over here ! ” 

But before they could do so Fortunatus stopped at a 
neighboring table where three young men were seated. 

“ Now who are those fellows he has spoken to,” asked 
Catharine, indicating with a nod of her head the occu- 
pants of the adjoining chairs. 

“Oh, I know one of them, he is Andoche Junot, he 
holds some office I think,” Bernadotte replied. 

“ And the second is an aristocrat,” said Lefebvre, 
“ his name, I believe, is Pierre de Marmont, he lives at 
Chatillon.”- 

“ And the third ? ” Fouche inquired; “ the thin young 
man with the olive complexion and the deep eyes. I 
have seen him somewhere, but where, I can’t re- 
member.” 

“You have seen him in my shop, I presume,” said 
Catharine blushing slightly. “ He is an officer of 
artillery, and he lives near me, at the Hotel de Patriotes, 
Rue Royal'Saint-Roch.” 

“ Oh, yes, he is the Corsican living in that hotel,” 
said Fouche with a satisfied air at the solution of the 
resemblance that puzzled him, “and he has such a 
droll name, this client of yours. Let me see, it is Berna 
— Buna — Bina — no, that isn’t it. I declare his name 
has escaped me.” 

“ Bonaparte! ” said Catharine. 

“Yes, yes, that’s it, Bonaparte, Timoleon, I believe?” 

“ Napoleon!” Catharine replied, “and he is a bright 
fellow, I tell you. Whoever tries to impose on him will 
have a hard task.” 

“ He has a sorry name, this Timeo — this Napoleon, 
and a sorry countenance. A name like that can never 
accomplish anything. But stop, the fortune-teller is 
about to speak to them. Shall we listen to what he 
says ? ” 

Intent upon the affairs of their neighbors, the young 
people leaned far over towards the next table, and 
Catharine impressed by the presence of the sorcerer, 
whispered mysteriously in Lefebvre’s ear: 

“I hope he will predict good fortune for Bonaparte, 


23 


he deserves it, that young man there; why, he has four 
brothers and I don’t know how many sisters and he is 
very far from being rich — so far that I have never had 
the heart to present my bill for his washing.” 

Meanwhile Fortunatus, balancing his hat by its point 
top, studied with great gravity the outstretched hand of 
the youth who Bernadotte called Junot. 

“Thou,” Fortunatus groaned forth in a cavernous 
voice supposed to be an echo from the grave, “ shalt 
have a finished and successful career, thou shalt be the 
friend of a great man, thou shalt be with him in his vic- 
tories and his glory, on thy head shall rest a ducal 
crown, thy triumphs in the Midi ” 

“ Bravo,” interrupted the happy recipient of all these 
favors, “ bravo, I can actually see myself on half pay 
already, my friend. But tell me after all this glorious 
good luck, how shall I die?” 

“ Fool ! ” exclaimed the sorcerer. • 

“The devil,” Marmont cried, interrupting further dis- 
closures touching Junot’s future, “the beginning of your 
prophecy is much better than the ending. But what 
about me, am I destined to some folly, as well ? ” 

“ No,” the sorcerer replied in the same lugubrious 
tone, “thy life shall be devoted to the unhappiness of 
thy country and thyself — after a career of glory and of 
honor, thou shalt desert thy leader, prove traitor to thy 
country, and thy name shall be uttered in the same 
breath as that of Judas.” 

“ Well, you favor me with a pleasant future. I am 
certainly honored, but, my dear old man, I will forgive 
you if you will tell us the fortunes of our comrade here,” 
and Marmont waved his hand towards Bonaparte, but 
the latter, rising from his chair, brushed the sorcerer 
away with a movement of his arm, saying: 

“ I do not care to hear of my future from him, I al- 
ready know it.” 

Followed by his friends Bonaparte made his way to 
the Vauxhall garden, some distance from the noise and 
tu-mult of the hall, and there, stopping on the marble 
walk, he looked into the heavens and after an instant of 
silent contemplation, he asked in a voice trembling with 
excitement: 

“Do you see that star? No? It is not there, you 
sav ! Ah, well, I see it— and it is my destiny ! ” 

The fortune-teller looked after the retreating friends 
and then turned towards the table, where Lefebvre 


24 


entertained his party. Catharine motioned to him to 
approach, and with his eyes fixed intensely on the two 
guardsmen, he warned them to profit by their youth for 
their days were numbered. 

“ And how shall we die ? ” one of the youths demanded, 
one who on the tenth of the next month fell among the 
heroes in the cause of liberty, shot down by the rifles of 
the Swiss. 

“ Before the palace ! ” the sorcerer answered. 

“ True grandeur ! ” Bernadotte exclaimed, “ and for 
me, have I a tragic end also — or do I die within a 
palace ?” 

“No, thy death shall be calm, thou shalt sit upon a 
throne, and, after having denied thy flag and fought 
against thy companions in arms, thou shalt lie in a 
majestic tomb near to a sea of ice.” 

,“If you give all these good things to my comrades, 
what is there left for me?” Lefebvre inquired with an 
affectation of anxiety. 

“Thou,” answered Fortunatus, “shalt wed the one 
thou lovest, thou shalt command a formidable army, 
and thy name shall ever be coupled with bravery and 
loyalty.” 

“ And I, Citizen Sorcerer ! ” hazarded Catharine in a 
shrinking way that showed she was frightened, perhaps 
for the first time in her life. 

“ You, Mademoiselle,” said the sorcerer, “you shall 
be the wife of the man you love — and you shall become 
a duchess.” 

“ Ah, then that means I shall become a due. General 
is not sufficient, is it?” Lefebvre exclaimed gaily, “eh. 
Sorcerer, come, complete thy prediction, say that I shall 
marry Catharine and together we shall become due and 
duchess.” 

But Fortunatus answered not; he had turned away, 
and, amid the laughter of the young men and the reve- 
rent glances of the women, he slowly walked towards a 
distant corner. 

“Truly,” said Fouche, “this magician is not very in- 
ventive, he gives us all the highest posts, and leaves us 
there. But, now I think of it, he has given me nothing. 
Hell, there. Sorcerer, am I never to be exalted ?” 

“Hold your tongue,” Catharine interrupted, “you 
have already been cure, what more do you want ? ” 

“Excuse me, my dear,” Fouche responded, with mock 
courtesy, “ I was only a reader. At present I am a 


25 


patriot, an enemy to tyrants. What do I want to be ? 
It is simple. I must be Minister of Police.” 

“You will be, you are so bright ’ erything 



that happens now, everything 


Citizen 


Fouche ! ” Catharine laughed. 

“Yes, I shall be Minister of Police when you are a 
duchess,” and a strange smile passed over the sad coun- 
tenance of Fouche as he arose from the table and mingled 
with the crowd. 

The ball was ended. The four young men lingered 
to discuss the revelations of Fortunatus; Catharine leaned 
upon the arm of Lefebvre and granted permission for 
that love-stricken youth to accompany her as far as the 
entrance to her shop. 

As they passed through the door, their three neigh- 
bors were directly before them, Bonaparte slightly in 
advance of Junot and Marmont. For an instant Bona- 
parte raised his eyes to the heavens seeking that brilliant 
star, visible to himself alone. 


III. 


THE LAST NIGHT OF ROYALTY. 


The tenth of August in that year fell upon Friday, 
and the night of the ninth was placid, starlit, and 
serene. Until midnight the moon shed its calm light 
over a city that slept in a quietude that seemed to one 
strange to the events that were transpiring, to be peace- 
ful and free from trouble. 

But for fifteen days Paris had only slept with feverish 
uncertainty as to whether it should awaken amid the 
brilliant sunshine of an untarnished day, or open its 
eyes upon the streets of its city running with the blood 
of its citizens; it had slept upon its sabre ready to re- 
spond to the first call whenever that call might come. 

The reinforcements from Marseilles were in the city. 
They marched the streets, and they were welcomed at 
the clubs, they quickened the blood of the Parisian with 
their ardor, they sang at all hours the stirring refrain of 
their martial hymn, that hymn born on the borders of 
the Rhine in the transcendent soul of Rouget de Lisle. 
They taught it to their compatriots of the North, and 
those in return sang it as the national anthem of France 
and gave it the name of the “ Marseillaise.” 


26 


The Court and the people were preparing for the 
blow, for the grand day. 

The Court had barricaded itself in the Tuileries, and 
there it was garrisoned under the protection of the 
Swiss Guards from Courbevoie and from Rueil, a band 
of fanatical nobles who had earned the title of Cheval- 
iers of the Poignard after the banquet of October, 
where the national cocarde was trampled under their 
feet. 

The tenth of August marked the beginning of the in- 
surrection, the first battle of a great army without a 
commander, a battle where the crowd was the general 
and the heroes were the people. 

It began at midnight, that radiant midnight of the 
ninth. The emissaries of forty-seven sections of revolu- 
tionists sped silently through the streets, carrying from 
door to door the ominous order: “ To arms ! To arms, 
when you hear the tocsin sound and the drums beat ! ” 

The clock on Saint Germain I’Auxerrois sounded the 
knell of monarchy, as it had sounded the massacre of 
Saint Bartholemy. 

The moon had sunk beneath the horizon, and a deep 
shadow rested upon the city. Suddenly in the win- 
dows of the houses lights appeared, quickly one fol- 
lowing the other. It seemed as though there was to be 
a fete, but a^fete with a sinister aspect. It was the last 
light glimmer before the day that was to bring with it 
the smoke of combat, the dense clouds from the torch 
of the incendiary that were to obscure the sun. 

The doors looking on the streets were opened quietly, 
and men bearing guns stood half concealed within the 
passages. They anxiously scanned the heavens and bent 
their listening ear close to the earth, they awaited the 
coming of the gathering forces that they might join in the 
ranks. The houses nearest the Tuileries had given evi- 
dence of life during the entire night, and long before the 
sun showed its burning face many of the shops were 
opened to the gathering crowds. 

Mademoiselle Sans-Gene was among the earliest of 
those upon the street. Clothed in a short skirt, a thin 
shawl thrown about her plump shoulders and a coquet- 
tish evening bonnet perched upon her head, she looked 
forth from her windows alarmed by the rumors of the 
night and aroused from her troubled sleep by the rol- 
ling of the drums and the distant sound of the tocsin. 
Satisfying herself that she might venture forth without 


27 


danger, she passed down througli her shop and gained 
the door. ^ 

The Rue Royal Saint Roch was deserted as Catharine 
looked about her in every direction. It was not alone 
curiosity that called her from her rest thus early; she was 
a good patriot, this Sans-Gene, but another sentiment 
than her hatred of tyrants aroused her from her couch 
this day.' Since the evening at the Vauxhall she had 
often seen Lefebvre, and so ardent had his protests 
become and so persistent her restraint, that only two days 
before we find her standing by her shop, the sergeant 
had ended his doubts by proposing marriage, and 
Catharine, not unwilling, said: 

“ But we havn’t very much to support our home on. 
I have only my washing, and nobody ever thinks of pay- 
ing me.". 

“ Yes," added Lefebvre, “ and I only have what I can 
get out of the army, and that is often late in coming." 

“ Well, but all that is nothing; we are young, we love 
each other, and we have everything before us! Didn’t 
the Sorcerer the other day promise me that I should 
be a duchess ? " 

‘‘ And didn’t he tell me that I should be general ? " 

‘‘ Yes, and he told you that you would marry the one 
you loved.’’ 

“ Good! Then let us realize the prediction by begin- 
ning right there ! ” 

“ But we can’t get married in a moment, we have got 
to fight ! " 

“Then, fix on a date, Catharine ! " 

“ Well, then on the day of the downfall of the tyrants; 
how does that suit you ? " 

“ Agreed ! The tyrants I execrate ! See here, Cath- 
arine, look at this ? " 

And Lefebvre, rolling up his sleeve, bared his right 
arm, upon which was an elaborate design in tattooing, 
showing two sabres crossed, surmounted by a flaming 
shell, and having beneath it the inscription: “Death to 
tyrants ! ! " 

“ Am I not patriotic ? " Lefebvre exclaimed, as he 
looked triumphantly upon his naked arm. 

“It is beautiful!" said Catharine, with a tone of sin- 
cere admiration, and stepping towards him she ex- 
tended her finger to touch the marks. 

“Don’t touch it!" said Lefebvre quickly. “I have 
just had it put on." 


28 


And this was the evening of their betrothal, and they 
lingered long at the door of the little shop beneath the 
loo-brilliant stars, until the tenderness became so en- 
ticing that Catharine ran back into the room, pushing 
the door into the very face of the impulsive Lefebvre 
and laughing from behind its protection. 

“ Good night, Lefebvre, you can come in when you 
are my husband.” 

Since then his military duties had given Lefebvre little 
opportunity fora pleasant hour with his countrywoman. 

And so Catharine looked from the window of her 
chamber this night the tocsin sounded its notes, sounded 
the De profundis for the Tuileries and for royalty, 
sounded the Alleluia for her nuptials. 

Two of her neighbors, lightly clothed, came forth 
from their adjoining shops, and, looking about upon the 
empty street, they said to Catharine: 

“Is there anything, Mam’zelle Sans-Gene?” 

“ I am waiting, neighbors, have patience, just a little, 
and you will know everything. You will see the grand- 
est stroke for liberty that was ever dealt,” Catharine 
made answer. 

At this moment Lefebvre fully armed and carrying a 
musket over his shoulder, hastily came around the corner 
of the Rue St. Honore, and, throwing his weapon against 
the building, he rapturously embraced the smiling 
girl. 

“ Ah, my Catharine, how happy it makes me to see 
you. It has commenced ! We are warming them 
already. To-day is Liberty Day! Vive la nation! ” the 
sergeant shouted at the top of his voice. 

The two neighbors timidly approached, their eyes 
sparkling with excitement, and they asked what had 
happened. 

“ There ! ” was all Lefebvre could answer as he 
pointed his trembling finger towards the Tuileries. 

“ Why havn’t you taken the tyrants from their 
palace?” Catharine demanded. 

“ We have attacked it on every side. But don’t you 
see the building is a veritable fortress, there are guns in 
every window, the doors are barricaded, the Swiss are 
armed to the teeth, and with them are those scoundrels, 
the Chevaliers of the Poignard, the traitors, brought in 
here to assassinate patriots ! ” Lefebvre cried with 
savage energy. 

“ And have you fought your battle already ?” 


29 


No, not yet, but one man has been killed, Mandat, 
the commander of the National Guards.” 

“Your chief?” 

“ Yes, and he was a traitor ! We found signed by his 
hand a paper telling when the patriots would arrive at 
the head of Pont Neuf to make their junction with their, 
comrades from Saint Marceau and from Saint Victor, 
but the treason was discovered, the traitor called at the 
Hotel de Ville to explain, and was there killed by a 
pistol bullet from the crowd. But to-night nothing 
can stop the march of the patriots, and eight days from 
this, Catharine, we shall be married. See, I have 
already prepared the wedding present. You know, I 
promised it ! ” 

And right there before the neighbors, the sergeant 
rolling up the sleeve from his left arm, showed another 
tattoo representing two burning hearts. 

“ See, there,” he said, “ see what is written, ‘ To Cath- 
arine for life.’ ” 

And then they all gathered around to admire the 
design. 

“ It is beautiful, much more beautiful than the other,” 
said Catharine blushing with pleasure. “Oh, my, Le- 
febvre, my dear Lefebvre, how thoughtful you are, and 
how much I love you.” 

At this moment the rattling sound of muskets was 
heard sharp upon the air, and then with the intermission 
of a single moment came the roar of a cannon. 

The neighbors ran frightened into their houses, and 
Lefebvre, with the light of a joyful realization beaming 
over his face, pushed Catharine within her door, crying 
out with enthusiasm: “Go, go, Catharine, and don’t 
come out again until I come for you. Be not alarmed, 
we shall return victors ! ” 

He seized his musket and with one more embrace he 
ran in the direction of the Tuileries. 

IV. 

A CHEVALIER OF THE POIGNARD. 

It was noon when the cannon ceased to roar against 
the walls of the Tuileries, and then the sounds of human 
voices, drowned before, were'heard through the streets 
near and far crying, “Victory ! Victory ! ” 

Great clouds of smoke floated in the air above the 


threatened dwellings and bits of blackened paper and • 
torn strips of burned tapestries were blown along the 
pavements. 

The events of this day made a varied history that has 
never had its equal. 

Each section of the revolutionists appointed three 
commissioners who together formed the Paris Com- 
mune. Petion, the Mayor, went to the Hotel de Ville, 
which had been assigned to him as an official residence. 
Mandat, found guilty of treason, had been killed, and 
Santerre, being appointed in his place, was commander 
of the National Guards. The arsenal had been broken 
open and the arms distributed among the patriots. 

The King, the luxurious Louis, had reviewed the bat- 
talions of the National Guard that he hoped to use in 
the defense of the palace, but the reception he received 
was chilling, and he had retired to his own apartments 
seeing in his mind the shadow of the guillotine length- 
ening over the Place de la Concorde. The companies 
of the Guard from the Butte des Moulins alone had given 
the old-time cheer as they marched past the royal stand- 
ard, the others had cried in no uncertain voices: “Long 
live the nation ! Down with the Veto ! ” 

The Swiss Guards were the only reliance of Louis XVI. 
They numbered 950, they were thoroughly equipped 
and under perfect discipline, for the most part they 
spoke only German, but to a man they were faithful in 
their allegiance to the King because they looked upon 
loyalty as their share in the contract by which they had 
been hired to protect His Majesty. Ignorant of the true 
situation and the intensity of the feeling in the hearts of 
the French people, the Swiss regarded the uprising as a 
temporary riot, and themselves as heroes defending a 
hounded ruler against a band of brigands. 

The reinforcements from Marseilles and from Brittany 
were under the command of a friend of Danton, a former 
lieutenant, Westermann by name, an energetic Alsatian, 
a true militiaman with all the instincts of a soldier. At 
the head of his men, he forced his way into the court of 
the palace. At that time there were three of these ex- 
tensive open squares and the Carousel, much smaller 
than it is to-day, was shut in on every side by buildings. 

Reaching this place, Westermann drew up his troop 
in the order of battle, while the Swiss crowded every 
window overhead, musket in hand, ready for the word 
to fire. 


Recognizing the slaughter that would follow the 
threatened engagement the Alsatian stepped forward, 
and, addressing the Swiss in German, he urged them to 
throw down their arms and join in the cause of liberty. 
The words had some effect, and the moments of silence 
that followed the simple appeal saw handfuls of car- 
tridges thrown from the windows to the ground, a mute 
sign of friendliness and sympathy, and the patriots reas- 
sured by these peaceful demonstrations forced their way 
into the vestibule and up to the grand staircase leading 
to the royal apartments. Here stretched the barrier 
that forbade further progress, while beyond standing up- 
on every step were two imposing Swiss, one with his 
back pressed against the wall, the other showing full 
front in the centre of the stair, and both with their mus- 
kets at their shoulder and their fingers upon the trigger. 

For an instant the shrieking mob of invaders hesitated, 
and then a shot rang out above all other noises, and one 
of the Swiss sank to the floor, his blood trickling 
down upon the marble pavement. In the fury of the 
conflict the origin of the first shot was not determined, 
and responsibility of this signal for the terrible mas- 
sacre was never placed. 

With murderous precision the defenders of the palace 
threw their terrible fire into the struggling hordes be- 
low, volley succeeded volley with no intermission, it was 
an uninterrupted flood of fire that swept over the gilded 
balustrades of the grand escalier into the panic-stricken 
crowd almost hidden by the clouds of smoke, but whose 
struggles and shrieks reached the furthermost corners 
of the besieged building. 

The first discharge of musketry from the guard upon 
the stairs was a signal to those who occupied the win- 
dows upon the yard and from each embrasure, the 
Swiss and the gentlemen of the Court kept up a fusillade 
as deadly and as irresistible as that with which the in- 
surgents were deluged in the vestibule. It was more 
than mortal could withstand, and as the patriots tumbled 
forth into the Carousel seeking by flight to escape the 
flying bullets from within, they encountered the deadly 
shower that came from every side of the inclosure and 
from every floor of the surrounding walls, centering on 
the only passage these flying men could take. As they 
fled through the arch into the open street the Swiss 
swarmed out upon their heels and pursued them to the 
Rue St. Honore. 


■ 3 ^ 

But the Marseillais, the Bretons, and the National 
Guard rallied a few streets distant, and reinforced by- 
thousands of citizens and many cannon, they returned 
to the assault. It was a human wave, overwhelming, 
resistless, nothing could stand before the terrific impetus 
of this triumphant crowd. Regardless of the rattling 
shot, of the men falling in every rank, they pressed for- 
ward and again filled the vestibule already slippery with 
blood and piled up with the dead bodies of those that 
had gone before, they plunged up the stairs and slaugh- 
tered the Swiss in the very salon of the King. Those 
that fled were cut down in the gardens or on the streets, 
and those few who were saved owed their lives to the 
generosity of an occasional conqueror, who interposed 
his influence between the affrighted Swiss and the popu- 
lar fury, 

Catharine was in the midst of the excitement that fol- 
lowed the assault. Aroused beyond control by the open- 
ing of the sanguinary affair, she had hurried after the 
sounds of the firing and reached the Carousel at the 
moment when her triumphant compatriots had taken 
possession of the palace. Inspired by her hatred of the 
tyrants, hoping that she would see among the com- 
batants her faithful Lefebvre black with the powder 
that he used against the enemy, wishing that she her- 
self might handle a gun to charge and fire upon the de- 
fenders of the King. Her soul was filled with the thoughts 
of strife, and the odor of gunpowder filled her mind 
with desperate thoughts. 

Not once did the fear come to her that Lefebvre would 
fall beneath the bullets of the Swiss, she was confident 
because she had faith in the prediction of Fortunatus, 
and he had said that Lefebvre would command armies, 
and that she should become his wife ! And so she braved 
every peril, advancing nearer and nearer to the cannons 
and to the Marseillais, searching everywhere for Le- 
febvre and fearless of death. 

How she reached her little shop Catharine knew not, 
but when the sounds of strife died away at noontime 
and all that shocked the repose of the deserted streets 
in her neighborhood were the occasional indistinct dis- 
charge of an isolated weapon faraway towards the other 
side of the city, she found herself trembling in her room, 
the door leading to the street closed and barred against 
intrusion. But suddenly she was startled by the loud 
report of a gun, fired three times and sounding as though 


33 


it were beneath her very windows. Then there was a 
noise of footsteps in the little passageway that ran beside 
her house and the next moment an uncertain knocking 
at her shop door. Alarmed and trembling, Catharine 
sat irresolute asking herself what it could be, and then 
gathering courage she ran into the shop and unlocking 
the door she threw it back. 

Before her stood a man trembling, pale, feeble, and 
covered with blood, his hand was against his shoulder, 
his face showed the most intense pain. He wore a suit 
of white with short trousers and stockings of silk, he 
was not a patriot, if he had fought it was assuredly 
in the ranks of the enemies of the people. 

“ Who are you ? What do you want ? ” she said 
with anger in her tones. 

“ I am wounded, they are pursuing me, let me hide 
here, save me in the name of Heaven, madam ! I 
am the Comte de Neipperg; I am an Austrian officer,” 
the man faintly replied. 

A groan came from his lips, his face became a shade 
paler, he waited for her reply in anguish. Catharine 
hesitated as she regarded him, she noted his elegance 
of dress and she saw the great splashes of blood that 
disfigured him, then she said in a voice filled with pity: 

“ Poor boy! You are an aristocrat, you have shot at 
the people! But it is not the same as though you were 
a Frenchman; you say you are an Austrian. Ah, well, 
you are a man ! ” 

And with the instinct of charity and tenderness that 
fills the heart of all women, be they the most energetic 
in the fray or gentle in their deeds of charity, Catharine 
assisted the fainting man to a chair, stripped his 
wounded shoulder, gently removed the threads of linen,, 
stiffened by the flowing blood and satisfied herself that 
there was no immediate danger of his death. She filled 
a little vessel with fresh water, and, having taken the 
precaution to close the door leading on to the street, she 
bathed the savage wounds of the unhappy patient. She 
made bandages, and in her haste she tore in strips the 
first bit of linen that came beneath her hands, nor was 
it until she had entirely destroyed a shirt that was 
unfortunately near, that she discovered it belonged to 
one of her customers. Looking at it with impatience, 
as though revolving in her mind what excuse she could 
make for such wanton destruction, she flung it down 
and exclaimed: 


“ Pshaw! It belongs to that poor, little artillery cap- 
tain, Napoleon Bonaparte. I don’t believe the poor fel- 
low has another one. Still, he owes me enough to buy 
several. I know what I’ll do. I’ll get him a new one. I’ll 
buy another and I will take it to him myself, and I’ll 
put his name on it, and I’ll tell him I spoiled his old one 
with a hot iron. But will he take it ? He is such a hot- 
headed fellow ! But, then, he doesn’t give much atten- 
tion to his clothes ! ” 

All this bubbled from her ruddy lips as with the 
greatest care, she bound the desecrated garment around 
the wounded officer who had found such pleasant refuge 
in the home of a rabid patriot. 

The sight of this young man, wounded to death per- 
haps, livid, without strength, his nerves shattered and 
his life almost gone, had entirely changed the senti- 
ments that Catharine so loudly declared. She had been 
an Amazon, she had taken part with the combatants, 
she had hailed with joy every volley that blazed against 
the battlements of the Tuileries, she had craved for a 
gun herself that she might participate in this fete of 
death, but now she had become an angel bringing relief 
to a suffering human being. The sight of the agony 
that she was making every effort to alleviate, brought 
to her lips an involuntary malediction against war and 
she murmured that men were savages to end their dis- 
putes by such means. But the next moment her hatred 
brought with it another anathema, this time against the 
King and against the Queen who had made necessary 
these awful butcheries. 

“ He is an Austrian,” she said. “ Why does he come 
here among us dressed in this white uniform ? He 
comes to defend that other Austrian, the Queen, Madame 
Veto ! ” 

Then she looked at the fainting man more attentively, 
she had washed the blood from his face, she had 
smoothed back his disordered hair, he sat there uncon- 
scious of it all. “ He is young, he can’t be over twenty ! ” 

Then her professional instinct came uppermost: 

“ His linen is fine, his batiste, he is truly an aristocrat.” 

^Under the happy influence of the cold water and the 
bandages that had stopped the loss of blood, the 
wounded man gradually became reanimated. He opened 
his eyes, and they wandered about the room. And with 
a revival of consciousness, the thoughts of danger came 
back to him. He made a movement as if to rise. 


35 


No, do not kill me ! ” he murmured in a supreme 
and instinctive effort, extending his arms before him as 
though he would ward off the blows of his invisible 
enemies. Then, looking full into the face of his bene- 
factor, he said, with a great effort: 

“ You are Catharine Upscher, of St. Amarin ? It was 
Mademoiselle de Laveline who sent me to your house; 
she said to me that you were good, that you would 
help me.^’ 

“ Mademoiselle Blanche de Laveline ? ” said Catharine 
in surprise, “ the daughter of the Seigneur of St. Amarin, 
my protector ! You know her, then ? For her I will 
brave any peril, and you have done well to come here. 
Here you are safe, and who would take you must pass 
over my body to do it.” 

The wounded man made an effort to speak, but 
Catharine by a motion enjoined silence upon him. 

“ Be reasonable,” she said, in a solicitous voice, “ no 
one can harm you here. Mademoiselle Blanche knew 
that she could trust me, you are here in the house of a 
patriot. Do you not hear what I say? The Austrians 
are patriots! You are in the home of a friend.” 

An expression of the most sincere satisfaction and 
relief passed over the face of the suffering Austrian. 
He was with a friend, the name of Blanche de Laveline 
was powerful, he had nothing to fear. With a supreme 
effort, his eyes half closed, he extended his arms and 
with his hand, clammy and cold, he felt about for the 
hand of Catharine. 

‘‘ Keep quiet ! be calm, you are resting where you 
will be safe, citizen Austrian,” said Catharine with 
emotion. And then with tears in her voice, she continued: 

“ Had you not better lie on the bed, I am not strong 
enough to lift you there, but can you walk? Oh, how I 
wish Lefebvre were here, where can he be ? ” 

The exclamation aroused a thought in her, the idea 
came to her mind that if Lefebvre should come there 
and find an unconscious stranger, covered with blood, 
what would he think? 

“This war is terrible! ” she whispered. 

And then, with the energy of a sudden conviction, 
she said half aloud: 

“ Bah! Lafebvre is too brave, too manly to injure a 
wounded opponent; Lefebvre only fights with bullets.” 

Then, shrugging her shoulders, she once more turned 
her attention to her patient, 


36 


It is impossible that he should stay here, any chance 
passer-by might see him. But what shall I do with him? 
He is a friend of Mademoiselle Blanche, I cannot let him 
die like this.” 

For a moment she stood while conflicting emotions 
paralyzed her mind and interrupted her thoughts. 

“ Perhaps he is the fiance of Mademoiselle Blanche. 
Oh, how can I save him ! Why does not Lefebvre come? ** 

The Austrian, meanwhile, had again sunken into 
unconsciousness, and Catharine puzzled her confused 
brain how to carry him to the bed where she felt 
he would be more comfortable. Her self-possession 
had almost deserted her in the critical emergency of 
the moment, and she clasped her hands in her vain 
efforts to solve in some way the question of what she 
should do. 

“ Surely Lefebvre must come soon. He could not 
reproach me for saving the life of an aristocrat when 
he knows that he is the friend of my benefactress; he 
cannot say anything to me; certainly after the battle is 
over, a French soldier knows no enemies; Lefebvre' has 
told me so often. But then he is as jealous as a tiger! 
He will see this man, this aristocrat lying in my chair 
and perhaps he will demand to know how I met him, 
and how he took refuge in my house ! ” 

She made a renewed effort to lift the wounded man 
to the couch. 

As she did so, a loud knock came at the door. Star- 
tled, trembling in every limb at the imperious inter- 
ruption, Catharine released her hold upon the Austrian 
and stood staring in stupefaction towards the street. 

“Who can it be ?” she said to herself. “ The shop is 
closed and certainly no one would come to look for their 
linen on such a day as this.” 

The sound of muskets clashing against the pavement 
interrupted her thoughts, and again the resounding 
blows upon the door. 

Then she heard confused voices without: 

“ He is in there ! ” 

“ We have him here ! ” 

“ They are looking for him ! ” Catharine said in a 
trembling voice as her eyes regarded with compassion 
that almost was allied to love, the unconscious man 
whose salvation rested with herself alone. 

“ Open the door ! ” shouted a coarse voice accompanied 
by another impatient blow. 


37 


*‘How shall I save him?” Catharine cried, now thor- 
oughly frightened, ‘and shaking the unconscious man 
she continued, “Wake up! citizen, monsieur, wake up, 
have courage, try to get up and walk.” 

The wounded man opened his eyes and in a feeble 
voice replied: 

“ I cannot, let me die here ! ” 

“No, no, you must not die!” Catharine whispered. 

“ See, have strength, live for the sake of Mademoiselle 
Laveline. You cannot stay here, get up, there, that is 
right, you see it is not very difficult, now come! ” 

The Austrian tottered like a man intoxicated. Catha- • 
rine supported him by his arm, the cries, the threats, 
the noise doubled outside. The repeated blows threat- 
ened to break down the door, when suddenly a voice 
rose above the tumult, saying: 

“Stop, stop! What are you doing, I will see this 
woman ! ” and then the same voice cried out aloud: 

“ Catharine, it is I! Don’t you know me? Come! ” 

“Lefebvre!” said Catharine in a joyful voice, and 
then turning towards the door she cried, “ Wait a 
moment, and I’ll be there.” 

“Don’t you see, citizens, she is a working woman; 
have a little' patience, she is frightened by your noise 
and the blows of your muskets!” said Lefebvre, in a 
voice that Catharine distinctly heard within. 

“ You hear that,” Catharine said to the wounded 
man; “they won’t come in. I am a working woman, 
they know that.” 

“Where are we going?” he feebly muttered. 

“ We must climb this stair, I will find a place for you.” 

“ Climb this stair! It is impossible, I have not the 
strength.” 

“ Well, then quick, into my room!” 

And Catharine without another moment’s delay, led 
the tottering footsteps of the Austrian into her apart- 
ment, and laying him upon the bed, turning the key in 
the door, she hastened ta the front entrance, which she 
threw open to Lefebvre and the clamoring crowd say- 
ing beneath her breath: 

“ Thank God, he is saved.” 


3^ 


V. 


THE BED-CHAMBER OF MAM’zELLE SANS-GENE. 

The bars removed, the bolts drawn, the door opened 
and Lefebvre rushed in followed by two or three guards 
and a crowd of neighbors and of sightseers, the bulk of 
these latter being women and children. 

“ You were rather slow in opening the door, Cath- 
arine,” said Lefebvre, kissing the girl on both cheeks. 

“ I was startled, the noise, the cries ” 

“ Yes, yes,” Lefebvre interrupted, I understand, 
but it was friends, patriots, who called. We are vic- 
torious everywhere, Catharine! The tyrant is now only 
a prisoner of the people, the stronghold of despotism 
has fallen, the people are masters! ” 

“Vive la nation! ” shouted a voice on the outskirts of 
the crowd. 

“And death to traitors! Down with the Swiss and the 
chevaliers! ” cried another, and the crowd pressed fur- 
ther into the little shop. 

“ Yes, death to those who have fired on ‘the people! ” 
exclaimed Lefebvre in a loud voice, “ Catharine, do you 
know why these good people throng thus into your 
shop?” 

“ No, I do not, I have, been trembling here with 
alarm, I heard gunshots that sounded as though they 
were under my very window ” 

“We have shot an aristocrat who escaped from the 
Tuileries, one of the Chevaliers of the Poignard who 
tried to assassinate the patriots; I have seen our people 
drop beneath the fire from the gun in his hands, and 
now I will make him pay the score in his blood. Just 
now, I and my comrades,” and Lefebvre waved his 
hand in the direction of his followers, “ were in close 
pursuit of him, we fired at him and struck him, and just 
as we thought he would have fallen, he disappeared in 
a turn of the street. He was wounded and the drops of 
blood that marked his trail come right to your door, 
Catharine. We believe he has taken refuge here ! ” 

Lefebvre looked quickly around him, and then in a 
questioning tone he continued: 

“ But he is not here, we can see that. Didn’t you say 
he was not here ? ” 


39 


Catharine made no response, apparent surprise chained 
her tongue, and Lefebvre detecting some confusion in 
her manner and not knowing what it meant, said to his 
comrades: 

“ Well, we have nothing more to do here, you at least. 
You see the white suit is nowhere about and I presume 
you will allow one of the conquerors of the Tuileries to 
tranquilly and uninterruptedly embrace his wife.” 

“Your wife! Oh, not yet, Lefebvre,” Catharine re- 
joined. 

“And why not yet? Is not the tyrant beaten?” and 
then addressing the Guards, Lefebvre werit on, “ Au 
revoir, citizens, good luck, let us go to headquarters 
and choose a captain and lieutenant, and a cure to pray 
for us, a patriot cure, all to take the place of those who 
were killed by the Swiss.” 

The Guards required no second hint and they went 
shouting forth into the street, while the crowd of idlers 
lingered around the door. 

“Well, well, my friends, why do you wait?” Lefebvre 
said to them in an amiable but imperative voice, “ why 
do you wait? In hopes of seeing that white uniform 
again ? If you do, you must seek it elsewhere, you see 
it is not in the house of Mam’zelle Catharine; that is 
clear ! But he must have fallen near here. No man 
could go far with such wounds, he had at least three 
bullets in his body, look for him theti, we have crippled 
him, make it your business to find him.” 

And with the words Lefebvre pushed the people 
gently away. 

“ All right, we will go, sergeant,” said one. 

“ No one has looked in the girl’s bedroom ! ” suddenly 
came from a busybody in the front rank; but further 
discussion was cut short by Lefebvre, who slammed the 
door with no gentle hand and threw his arms around 
Catharine, pressing her again and again to his breast. 

“The fool to shout for your bedroom,” said Lefebvre. 
“ What an idea ! But, Catharine, why are you tremb- 
ling ? Calm yourself, it is all over 1 Come, let us think 
only of ourselves ” 

His further speech was cut short by the startled look 
in Catharine’s eyes, and instinctively his gaze followed 
hers which was fixed upon the door of her room. It 
was an unconscious disclosure but that corner of the 
shop appeared to have an attraction Catharine could 
not resist. Mechanically the sergeant arose and taking 


— 40 


one step towards the secret apartment, he placed his t 
hand upon the latch. It was locked ! | 

Lefebvre stopped, astounded, surprised. A frown ^ 
came across his face. 

“ Catharine, why is this closed ? ” r 

“ I — because — perhaps ” 

“Give me the key ! ” • 

“ No, you shall not have it ! ” ■; 

“Catharine,” Lefebvre cried angrily, “give me the 
key, there is some one in your room, a lover doubt- ^ 
less ! ” 

“ I said you should not have the key ! ” 

“ Then I shall take it ! ” > 

And plunging his hand into the drawer of her little 
table Lefebvre drew forth the key which Catharine, by 
force of habit had placed there. 

“ Lefebvre,” cried Catharine in agony, “ my husband, 
my only love, do not open that door. I pray you, 
Lefebvre, do not enter that room against my wish, if 

you do never will I enter it with you, never ” 

A tumult on the sidewalk checked her impassioned 
utterance, sounds of many voices arose, and with them 
the clatter of muskets as they clashed against the stones. 
Then came violent blows on the outer door and Catha- 
rine, thinking to divert the attention of her lover, hur- 
ried to open it. Before her stood a file of the Guards. 

“ Where is Lefebvre,” they exclaimed in one voice. 
‘‘Where is Lefebvre. We want him. He must come to 
headquarters, they have made him lieutenant.” 

Lefebvre pale, grave, resolute, came from Catharine’s 
bedroorn. He carefully closed the door behind him and 
dropped the key on the table. 

“You did not tell me you had a dead man in your 
bed ! ” he whispered. 

“ Is he dead ! poor fellow ! ” Catharine said sadly. 

“ No, he is living I But is it true ? Is he a lover ? ” 

“ A lover ! stupid ! Do you suppose if he were I 
should allow him to be caught so easily. You have seen 
him, he is an Austrian, he is wounded, he is a friend of 
Mademoiselle Blanche’s, my benefactress, and he came 
to me for protection and refuge.” 

“ The wounded are sacred,” Lefebvre replied. “ Your 
room shall be a hospital, care for him, Catharine, save 
him. I am quite content to help you in paying your 
debt to Mademoiselle Blanche, as you see fit. Have 
courage, and I will return at once.” 


41 


“ Ah, my brave Lefebvre, brave heart, you have my 
word, Lefebvre, when you wish it you may claim me as 
your wife ! ” 

“ Then it shall be right quickly,” Lefebvre joyously 
responded. “ But my friends are impatient. I will 
return.” 

“ Sergeant, we are waiting ! ” the men called aloud 
from the street. 

“ I am with you, comrades, march on ! ” 

Lefebvre at the head of his squad quickly reached the 
barracks, where the soldiers were dropping their ballots 
for new officers in the great urn that stood there to re- 
ceive their votes. 

Catharine re-entered her room where the Austrian 
officer lay in a Utoubled sleep, but safe beneath the pro- 
tection of a roof that was consecrated to his salvation 
through the magic influence of Blanche de Laveline. 


VI. 

LITTLE HENRIOT. 

Catharine had carried to the wounded man a 
strengthening bowl of steaming soup, and then a goblet 
of the best wine she could get in the neighborhood; he 
was too weak to take anything more substantial. 

Drink these,” she said, “ they will do you good; you 
require all the strength you can get, for it will be impos- 
sible that you should remain in this room long! Oh, it 
is not on my account that I object, but you see it is not 
here like it is at the home of Mademoiselle Blanche, 
where everything is quiet and you have the entire house 
to yourself, but all the world comes into my shop, your 
dress will excite suspicion, the women I have working 
for me will see you, and they will rush out in the street 
shouting: ** Here is the man who fired upon the 
people ! ” 

Neippert moved uneasily and said: 

“We only defended the King.” 

“ The dirty Veto ! ” Catharine almost shrieked, and 
shrugged her shoulders in the intensity of her contempt. 
“ He has taken refuge in the Assembly; he thinks they 
won’t find him there, and he will be safe, he will let you 
cut your throat, selfish brute that he is, without giving 
you any more thought than he gave to the red cap that 


42 


was pulled down over his head on the 20th of June. He 
is good for nothing, he is a coward, this dirty Veto of 
yours, who was led around by the nose by his wife — you 
know where he was led, don’t you ? He was led right 
up to the guns of the patriots. Oh, they were ready for 
him, too ! But what were you doing here in this tumult, 
and you a stranger ? Because you are an Austrian, did 
you say ? ” 

I am a lieutenant in the Noble Guard of Her Majes- 
ty, and I was entrusted with a message to the Queen.” 

‘‘ The Austrian ! ” Catharine sneered; “ and was it for 
her that you fought, you who had nothing to win in the 
fight ? ” 

“ I would have died for her ! ” the young officer 
replied, with suppressed enthusiasm. 

“Died, at your age ! for the King? for the Queen ! ” 
Catharine was evidently recovering her good humor, 
for she laughed at these words, and they were uttered 
in a tone of raillery. “ Excuse me, if I am too blunt, 
but when one has only twenty years to his life and when 
he is willing to go and kill others for people whom he 
does not know, and fight others when he has no motive 
to fight — ah, well ! Then it must be a question of love. 
Mon Dieu ! Perhaps, I have struck it ? ” 

“ You havej my charming hostess.” 

“ Good gracious ! Then it is not difficult, and will 
you tell me who you are in love with ? I wager it is 
Mademoiselle Blanche ! Oh, I don’t urge you for any 
confidence,” Catharine vivaciously exclaimed, as she 
saw an expression of irritation come over the face of 
the wounded man; “ but don’t look at me in such a way, 
certainly Mademoiselle de Laveline deserves all the love 
you can give her.” 

Count de Neipperg half raised himself on one elbow, 
and in a voice, filled with exultation, he cried: 

“ Yes, she is beautiful, and she is good, my beloved 
Blanche ! Oh, Madame, if I should die, my last breath 
would go out in murmuring her name ! Tell her that 
my thoughts up to the moment that life was refused to 
me, were all for her and for ” 

The young man stopped as though interrupted by a 
sudden realization that he was saying too much; a word 
had formed itself upon his lips, but he discreetly closed 
them and was silent. 

“ You will not die ! ” Catharine said, desiring to 
comfort him; “ is it possible any one should die at your 


age, and when one is in love ? You must live, monsieur, 
for Mademoiselle Blanche, whom you love, who loves 
you, I am sure, and for that other person whom you did 
not name. Her father, doubtless. Monsieur de Lave» 
line? A fine-looking man; I have seen him two or 
three times, the Marquis de Laveline, in Alsace. He 
wore a magnificent suit of blue velvet with gold braid, 
and he carried snuff in a box that was all covered with 
diamonds and other precious stones.” 

When Catharine had pronounced the name of the 
Marquis de Laveline, Neipperg made a motion with his 
hand that indicated disgust and enmity. 

“ It doesn’t look as though you were very good 
friends,” Catharine observed. ‘‘Very well, then I 
won’t say anything more about him; I suppose he is 
opposed to the marriage. Poor mademoiselle! Is that 
the reason that you have come here to be killed ?” 

And with a suspicion of compassion in her voice, she 
began to arrange the pillows under his head, and said: 

“ I am an av/ful gossip, I won’t bother you any more 
with my talk. Can you sleep a little, monsieur ? I 
think, perhaps, it might reduce your fever.” 

The sick man put his hand tremblingly to his head: 

“Talk to -me of Blanche,” he said. “Talk to me of 
her again, it will cure me, I know.” 

And then Catharine told in her own simple way how 
she had been born near the Grand Chateau of Leveline, 
and how Blanche had taken her into the service of the 
chateau, and finally established her in her present wash- 
ing shop, where the unfortunate officer found shelter. 
In the midst of her recital, breaking in upon the words 
of admiration and gratitude with which she described 
the good deeds of her benefactress, there again came 
the sound of a stranger at the door, and the blows 
demanding admission resounded through the quiet 
room. 

“ I wonder if that is Lefebvre come back with his 
comrades from headquarters?” Catharine thought to 
herself, and then turning to Neipperg, who was evi- 
dently listening intently to the sound, she said, “Don’t 
be frightened, if that is Lefebvre alone, you are in no 
danger, but if his comrades are with him, then I must 
go out and talk to them. Do just as I tell you, and 
everything will be safe.” 

Quickly Catharine closed the door to her room and 
reached the entrance to the shop, opening the door a 


44 


few inches she looked cautiously out and was surprised 
to see before her a young woman, muffled in a light 
cloak and her face concealed by a heavy veil. 

He is here, isn’t he ? ” the visitor exclaimed. 

“Yes, yes, he is here. Mademoiselle Blanche,” Catha- 
rine replied, recognizing at once the voice of the woman 
who stood before her; “ he is in here, in my own room, 
he is living, and he wants to talk to you; come in and 
see him.” 

“ Oh, my dear Catharine, what a happy inspiration it 
was that I told him to come to your house as a refuge 
after that awful fight at the Tuileries,” and Mademoi- 
selle de Laveline seized Catharine by the hands and 
embraced her warmly, stopping but a moment^ before 
she went to the bedside of her wounded lover. 

“You wicked man!” Blanche said in a sweet voice, 
“ so you would go and be killed, would you?” 

“ But life without you is not worth having, so when I 
found a noble opportunity to quit it, in the piidst of 
combat, with a sword in my hand and a glorious death 
awaiting me, I went to meet it.” 

“Ungrateful boy, you should have lived for me.” 

“ For you ? Were not you as far from me as though 
my eyes had been closed in death? Had you not left me 
for ever ? ” 

“ That odious marriage I have avoided- thus far. We 
must find some means of breaking it off. 

“But you said to me yourself,” said Neipperg, who 
seemed to have resigned all hope, “ that to-day, the 
loth of August, you would become the wife of another ; 
you would become Madame Lowendaal; your father 
had ordered it, and you were powerless to resist.” 

“You know very well that my tears and my prayers 
were useless, threatened with ruin by this Baron de 
Lowendaal, this Belgian millionaire, who had given us 
enormous sums and exacted enormous returns, who 
called upon us at a moment’s notice for reimbursement; 
you know my father was forced to accede to his demand 
for my hand in order to save himself.” 

“Which means that your father, the marquis, uses his 
daughter to pay his debts.” 

“ My dear friend, my father was ignorant that our 
love was so intense; he knew nothing of our feelings for 
each other; he knows nothing yet,” Blanche said with 
an intense energy. 

“Yes, he is ignorant of everything, because I said 



“OUK CIin,l)I” THE WOUNDED MAN MUUMUIiED. 





45 


nothing, I despaired; my death, you see, will render the 
silence still more complete, his ignorance more profound, 
but perhaps the bullets of these rioters will not end me, 
perhaps I shall recover. There is a grand opportunity 
to die; war has been declared, and I shall look in the 
ranks of the Imperial army, on the borders of the Rhine, 
for that death which has been denied me at the Tuil- 
eries ! ” 

“ You will do nothing of the sort ! ” 

“ Pardon me, Blanche, but to-day is the loth of August, 
the date fixed for your marriage; how does it happen 
that I see you here ? Your place should be by the side of 
your husband; you are due just now at the church! 
Why do you delay bringing happiness to the Baron de 
Lowendaal and paying the debts of the marquis? Per- 
haps the combat interrupted the ceremony, but now the 
guns have stopped firing, the tocsin is silent, it is the 
turn of the nuptial bells to speak. Leave me to die, 
here, anywhere, to-day or to-morrow; what does it 
matter ? ” 

‘‘ No, no ! Your life belongs to me, you must live for 
me, for our child,” Blanche cried passionately, and 
throwing her arms around Neipperg, she embraced him 
with uncontrolled ardor. 

“ Our child ! ” the wounded man murmured. 

‘‘Yes, our dear little Henriot, you have no right to 
die, your life belongs to another 1 ” 

“ Our child ! ” Neipperg repeated sadly, “ but — you’re 
married.” 

“ I am not married yet, there is still hope.” 

“ Really? and you are not yet Madame de Lowendaal ? ” 

“ Not yet, never perhaps 1 ” 

“ Explain it to me.” 

And while a feverish anxiety sat upon the face of the 
tortured man, Blanche went on: 

“ When you had left, when you said adieu and told 
me that you were going to join the defenders of the 
palace, that you courted death, I had but little hope left 
in my heart; it was then that I ftrged you to come here 
to Catharine and wait until I could devise some means 
for joining you.” 

“ Then you did hope ? Notwithstanding that you had 
promised to obey your father, that you had consented 
to become the wife of this Lo'wendaal ! ” 

“ Yes, for something said to me this marriage might 
be- put off ” 


46 


And it has been ? ” 

“The insurrection beginning, my father declared it 
was impossible to have the marriage take place at the 
date that had been fixed, and then the Baron de Lowen- 
daal agreed it should be performed later, in three 
months.” 

“ In three months ? ” 

“ Yes, the 6th of November is the date that is now 
fixed. 

“ Ah* ! he doesn’t seem to be in any hurry, this baron.” 

“Frightened by the course of events, startled by the 
progress of the revolution, M. Lowendaal left Paris last 
night before the gates of the city were closed. He has 
gone to his own estate, to his chateau near Jemmapes 
on the Belgian frontier, where he intended to celebrate 
his marriage.” 

“ And are you going to Jemmapes ? ” 

My father, who is a little frightened also, has decided 
he. will join the baron at his chateau, and we intend 
to leave shortly, as soon as the roads are open.” 

“And shall you accompany him?” 

“ I must, but rest assured I am resolved what I shall 
do, never shall I become the wife of the baron.” 

“ Do you swear it ? ” 

“ I swear it ! ” 

“ But how will you have the strength to resist them 
at Jemmapes when you acceded to everything they 
wanted here ? ” 

“ Before his departure the baron received a letter 
I wrote him, and, oh, how frightened I was to do it ! 
His servant whom I had bribed, took this letter to him 
at the same time that he told him the gates of the city 
were open.” 

“ What did you tell him ? ” 

“The truth; he knows now that I love you and 
our little Henriqt can never have any other father than 
you.” 

“ My adorable Blanche, my darling wife, how I adore 
you; you bring me back to life; you give me strength to 
begin anew my battle against these desperadoes.” 

And Neipperg, in his excitement, made a quick move- 
ment to stand upon his feet, but the exertion burst the 
band that bound his wounds and a stream of blood 
started down upon his dress. He fell back with a cry 
of pain. Catharine, who had discreetly withdrawn into 
her shop, hastened to the bedside, and the two women 


47 


rearranged the bandages and again bathed the bleed- 
ing face of the Austrian, who was now unconscious. 

His senses had left him for the moment, but his first 
words upon opening his eyes disclosed his secret: 

“ Blanche — I am dying — watch over our child ! 
Catharine, stupefied by the words she had just heard, 
thoughtlessly exclaimed: 

“ Mademoiselle Blanche has a child ! ” 

And Blanche answered: 

“ He is three years old.” 

“ And his name ? ” 

“ Henri; we call him Henriot.” 

“ It’s a pretty name; can I see him, mademoiselle ? ” 
Blanche de Laveline reflected for a moment, then she 
said, “ My dear Catharine, you can do me a great favor,” 
and then she stopped and seemed to be thinking of. 
nothing other than the wounded man she so tenderly 
cared for. 

“ Speak, what is it that I can do ? ” 

My boy is now with a brave woman just outside of 
Paris, with Mother Hoche, in a Faubourg of Versailles ? ” 
“ Mother Hoche, I know her. Her son is a friend of 
Lefebvre, and Lefebvre is my lover; pretty soon he is 
going to be my husband.” 

You make me happy, indeed! and you will go and 
see Mother Hoche, will you ?” 

I have an errand for her, a message from her son, 
Lazare; he was in the French Guards with Lefebvre, 
and it was Lefebvre who induced him to take up arms; 
they were together at the capture of the Bastille. Now 
what is it you want me to say to Citizen Hoche ? ” 

“ Give her this money and this letter,” said Blanche, 
at the same time handing Catharine a purse and a paper, 
and then take the child with you. It isn’t too much to 
ask of you, Catharine, is it ? ” 

“ You know very well that anything you ask of me I 
shall be only too glad to do.” 

“ Would you take a long journey for me ?” 

Cheerfully; and where is it you want me to go ? ” 

“ To the Chateau of Lowendaal, near the village of 
Jemmapes, that is in Belgium, close to the frontier; it is 
very easy to get there.” 

‘‘ For you I would do anything ! When do you want 
me to bring the child to Jemmapes?” 

“ Not later than the 6th of November.” 

“ Good! I shall be there. Lefebvre will arrange for 


48 


me to get away; we will be married by that time, and 
perhaps he will go with me.” 

“ Embrace me, Catharine ! ” 

“ Depend on me.” 

“ At Jemmapes, then ! ” 

“ At Jemmapes, the 6th of November ! ” 

Then Blanche looked towards the bed where Neipperg 
lay. 

“ He is sleeping, I will go to him,” she said. 
“ Attend to your affairs, Catharine, and don’t let me 
interfere with what you have to do.” 

“ You are here as though in your own house, I have 
already told you that^ do as you please and try to save 
your lover.” 

“ Are you going out ? Don’t leave me here alone ! ” 

“ Oh, I shall only be gone a few moments, I have some 
washing I must take home, but it isn’t far from here, 
and I shall return quickly. And while I am gone don’t 
open the ddor for any one.” 


VII. 

THE LODGER AT THE HOTEL DE METZ. 

Leaving the awakening Count and Blanche to their 
delightful tete-a-tete, exchanging their projects for the 
future and talking of their child, Catharine with her bas- 
ket of clean linen on her arm went forth from her shop. 

She felt she could profit by the opportunity, the lov- 
ers would not even notice her absence, and she had 
already lost a day by going over to the Tuileries to see 
the fight. 

‘‘ Lefebvre is at headquarters, and they are voting ’ 
she said to herself. “ He will not leave there cer- 
tainly until the new officers are selected. That will all 
take, say, two hours. They are slow voters over there 
at the barracks of the Fille Saint Thomas, and they 
are all good talkers, too, except Lefebvre. I have 
plenty of time to run around to Captain Bonaparte’s 
house. There is that shirt I tore up, now I have none 
to take its place, but I have the note he gave me for the 
amount of his washing, and if he asks me for his shirt. 
I’ll give him the note, poor boy! He is such a wonder, 
too, and so wise, he is always reading and writing, 
always looks sad! ” 


49 


Thus her thoughts ran until she reached the humble 
hotel where Bonaparte lodged^ in a modest little room, 
on the third floor and numbered 14. The young man 
at this time gave no promise of the glorious future that 
awaited him; his name had no aureole of blood; he was 
without any noticeable peculiarity, without any extraor- 
dinary relations. His first years were those of a poor 
student, timid, laborious, sombre. He suffered cruelly 
from loneliness; his poverty isolated him; he was ever 
animated with the thought that he had a family largely 
dependent upon him, and making his situation pre- 
carious. 

His father, Charles Bonaparte, or properly Buona- 
parte, who was of an old Tuscan family resident of 
Ajaccio for upwards of two centuries, was an advocate 
by profession as had been all his ancestors. Charles was 
one of the most ardent partisans of the Paoli, the Cor- 
sican patriot, but submitted to the French authority 
when Paoli was forced out of the island. 

Being a member of the Administrative Council of Cor- 
sica, Charles was a prominent man, although all his pos- 
sessions consisted of an estate that brought him in about 
twelve hundred francs rental. He had married Letitia 
Ramolino, born on the 24th of August, 1749, a beauti- 
ful and pure young girl, with a profile that resembled 
an antique cameo, with a spirit that was singularly 
animated and brilliant. When she carried the 
title of Madame Mere, and sat on a throne beside her 
sons, then rulers of Europe, she replied to Napoleon 
when he reproached her for doing away with her civil 
list, “ I am making these economies for you, my children, 
that may perhaps be helpful in your days of necessity.” 
The record of his birth now among the valued archives 
of the military school, ^nd which was produced for the 
admission of young Napoleon into that institution, bears 
the date of August 15, 1769, and yet some confusion 
exists as to the real date due to the coquetry of Jose- 
phine who, when she married Napoleon later, desired 
that he appear two years older than he really was, and, 
to gratify this whim, he had substituted for his real 
birth record at the school, another, giving a date that 
was- false. 

There were two circumstances that influenced his 
thoughts and molded his character: the political dis- 
turbances of his native country and the financial dis- 
tress of his family. Civil war hurtled around his cradle; 


5 ^ 


the misery of his paternal household embittered his 
soul and grieved his youug years. He was serious when 
he entered the Brienne school; he was sad when he 
left it. 

His schoolmates, mocking the strong Italian accent 
that he never could correct, called him Paille-au-Nez; 
he was insulted because of his poverty; he was angered 
by ferocities of their raillery and the cruel jeers of 
which he was the victim. 

A studious scholar, noticeably strong in mathematics, 
he took but little recreation except in winter, when, with 
precocious strategy, he led the infantile assaults against 
the ice-fort erected in the court of the Brienne school, 
which was assailed and defended with showers of snow- 
balls. 

His solitary companion here was Bourrienne, who later 
became his intimate secretary, and always his devoted 
friend. 

From Brienne he went to the military school, and there 
he 'suffered a continuan.ce of those harmless but painful 
wounds that are caused by the slights of others — the evils 
poverty is called upon to bear. He had no money; he 
was unable to enter into the enjoyments of his com- 
panions, he was neglected, ignored, alone. This isola- 
tion at an age when the heart yearns for companionship, 
certainly contributed in no small degree to harden the 
character and destroy the instinct of pity in the soul of 
this man of bronze. 

Charles Bonaparte died when 39 years of age from 
the effects of a cancer of the stomach, and on the same 
day, September i, 1785, his son Napoleon was made 
second lieutenant in a company of bombardiers stationed 
at Valence. 

Here at Valence, in the leisure of his garrison life, 
Napoleon wrote a history of Corsica, and, desiring to 
mingle more with the world of fashion and society, he 
took dancing lessons from Professor Dantel and then 
made love to the young ladies of the city, being given 
an opportunity to meet them through the friendliness 
of a certain Mme. Colornbier, whose receptions he made 
it his duty to regularly attend. 

The regiment was detailed successively to Lyons and 
Douai and while it .was at this latter place Napoleon 
obtained leave of absence that permitted him to visit 
his mother at Ajaccio, from which place he returned 
direct to Paris where he put up at the Hotel de Cher- 


bourg, Rue des Four Saint Honore, and remained there 
until summoned to rejoin his regiment at Auxonne, May 
I, 1788. 

The work and the privations, as often he had no other 
nourishment than milk because he was without money 
to purchase suitable food, finally brought on a serious 
illness. 

Alone and unattended Napoleon recovered his health 
gradually, and then, in order to lighten his mother’s 
burden, she having eight children to care for, he 
sent for his young brother Louis to come to him at 
Paris. The child joined him and together they lived on 
92.15 francs (^18.43) per month. They occupied two 
rooms that were without fire and without furniture. In 
one of these rooms was a second-hand cot bed, a paper- 
covered trunk, a straw-seated chair and a kitchen table 
with a plain, unpainted and uncovered top. Here worked 
and slept and ate the future master of the Tuileries and 
of Saint Cloud. 

In the second room there was nothing but a mattress 
thrown upon the floor, and there slept Louis, the future 
King of Holland. Here also Napoleon cleaned his own 
and his brother’s clothes and boots, and with his own 
hands prepared their daily meals, which on six days of 
the week consisted of soup alone. Speaking of these ter- 
rible years of want and deprivation, upon one occasion, 
when as Emperor he was surrounded by the most brill- 
iant court in Europe, he said: 

“ I would have you know that I, monsieur, when I 
had the honor of being a second lieutenant, made my 
breakfast on dry bread, but I bolted my door on my 
poverty, in public I never caused my comrades to blush ^ 
for me.” 

Poverty had made him chaste, and inclined his thoughts 
to wage war against love. He anathematized woman 
and gave utterance to his famous remark. “ I believe 
love is a menace to society, a menace to individuality; I 
believe love brings more misery than happiness.” 

And the virtuous Catharine who, humble washer of his 
linen though she were, had formed a strong attachment 
for Napoleon before she met Lefebvre, was not slow in 
perceiving that Napoleon in practice lived up strictly 
to the severe philosophy he expressed. 

Promoted-to be first lieutenant in the Fourth Artillery, 
Bonaparte went back to Valence, taking his brother 
Louis with him. There he lived his usual life of 


52 


study and sedentary enjoyment. The country was then 
on the eve of revolution and he became a warm advo- 
cate of liberty and the emancipation of the people. 
When he saw the signs of uprising becoming stronger 
and nearer he talked, he wrote, he agitated, his name 
was inscribed on the membership roll of the club of the 
Friends of the Constitution,- and later he became its sec- 
retary. In October, 1791, he asked a leave of absence for 
three months for the benefit of his health and to visit 
his family. It was granted, and he went to Corsica. 

There, in the midst of his own people, he made him- 
self popular, and was nominated as chief, of a battalion 
in the National Guards of Ajaccio.* This command 
would give him public prominence and influence, and 
his pretensions to the position were warmly contested. 
His principal opponent was Marius Peraldi, member of 
an influential family, and recognizing the strength of 
this opposition Napoleon put forth every effort to gain 
supporters. So energetically did both candidates work 
that Ajaccio was soon divided into two factions, and so 
high did feeling run that the central government of the 
island sent three commissioners to the scene, for the 
purpose of quieting the tumult and seeing to it that the 
election went off properly. The principal commissioner 
was a man named Muratori,who at once upon reach- 
ing Ajaccio took up his residence with Marius Peraldi, 
and with the self-evident design of thus influencing 
votes for Peraldi and against Bonaparte, as the weight 
of official preferences was a powerful factor in the 
political events of Corsica. 

The friends of Napoleon were discouraged by this 
% move on the if art of the commissioner, and felt that the 
success of Peraldi was assured. Napoleon himself, 
however, did not give way to this feeling, but in the 
realization that desperate measures had then become 
necessary in order to counteract the influence his oppo- 
nent had suddenly acquired, he devised a plan which 
was original and audacious. 

He disclosed the plot to a number of his sturdy 
adherents, and they, armed to the teeth, went to the 
residence of Peraldi one evening at the hour when that 
gentleman was entertaining his guests at a sumptuous 
banquet. Rushing into the house the armed band 
invaded the dining-hall, and seizing the astounded and 
frightened Muratori, they marched him away, sur- 
rounded by a strong guard. 


S 3 


The commissioner, more dead than alive, was taken 
to the home of Bonaparte who was waiting to receive 
him, and who, as soon as he saw the prisoner enter the 
door sprang forward to greet him, and grasping both 
his hands, he pressed them warmly saying at the same 
time and in the most amiable voice: 

“You are indeed welcome at my house; I heard you 
were stopping for a time with my friend Peraldi. Let 
me offer you a chair, my dear commissioner.” 

Muratori glanced mutely towards the door but see- 
ing there a line of stolid countrymen, each with a 
loaded musket ready for use, he reluctantly but firmly 
accepted the proffered hospitality. Napoleon entertained 
his unwilling visitor with the most engaging conversa- 
tion, assumed absolute ignorance of any physical force 
being present, and the commissioner remained all night 
where he was. 

The next day was that of election. Napoleon’s allies 
noised it about early that Muratori had deserted Peraldi 
the previous evening and come over to their side; voters 
were walked past Napoleon’s house so they might catch 
a glimpse of the commissioner, who was led up to the 
windows at regular intervals for the purpose of being 
seen. When the polls were closed, Napoleon had been 
elected. The coup at Ajaccio presaged the greater 
coup at St. Cloud. ' 

The act of Bonaparte, in accepting a command of a 
territorial force while he was yet a member of the active 
army, was decidedly irregular, but this was a revolu- 
tionary period and it is quite certain had the times 
been different the indiscretion would have cost him 
dear ; as it was, the only result that followed was an 
extension of his leave of absence. 

The motive that prompted him to seek a post at the 
head of a militia corps, where he enjoyed the grade of 
lieutenant-colonel, was neither military ambition nor 
political ardor; it was money, the one question that 
prompted his every action at this period. His pay in 
this new post in the National Guard was 162 francs 
($32.40) per month, was just double that received by 
him as a lieutenant of artillery. 

With this sum he could aid in the support of his nu- 
merous family, and give some attention to the education 
of Louis. That was the motive that decided him to remain 
for a time in Corsica. Napoleon, during his life, was, 
to some degree, a victim of his family. 


54 


In thus taking command of the battalion at Ajaccio, 
he did not desert from the regular army, as some have 
charged. The National Guard in Corsica was in active 
service, it was assimilated with the army, and Napoleon 
always claimed that a decree of the Assembly authorized 
officers in the active army to serve in battalions of the 
National Guard. 

Finally summoned by his colonel, Maillard, Bonaparte 
went to Paris for the purpose of having his action 
inquired into and to plead his cause before the Minister 
of War. He hoped that he would be permitted to return 
to Corsica, but instead of that he was forced to again 
take up his residence in Paris and resume his lonely 
existence. 

He secured apartments in a cheap hotel and as often 
as possible dined with M. and Madame Permon, ac- 
quaintances he had made at Valence, and whose 
daughter afterwards married Junot and became Duchess 
d'Abrantes. Later Napoleon seriously considered the 
idea of offering himself to Madame Permon, who was 
then a widow and was possessed of some fortune. 

Notwithstanding his economy he was at this time 
deeply in debt, he owed fifteen francs to the keeper of 
the cheapest eating-house in Paris, and Catharine Sans- 
Gene held his note for forty-five francs for washing. 
His associates 'were few, he spending his time with 
Junot, Marmont, and Bourrienne, all of them being 
equally poor. 

The morning of August loth, Bonaparte was awak- 
ened by the sound of the tocsin and became a simple 
spectator of the incidents that followed. He went to the 
bric-a-brac shop of Fauvelet de Bourrienne, brother 
of his comrade, whose windows looked out upon the 
Place de Carousel. He was without money in his 
pockets and not caring to be entirely penniless on this 
day of the revolution, he pawned his watch with Fau- 
velet, receiving on it fifteen francs. 

Napoleon remained in the shop until noon, and then, 
the strife having ended, he regained his own room, 
saddened by the sight of the dead bodies lying about 
the streets and sickened by the smell of blood. 

In after years, when he became the great butcher of 
Europe, he forgot the blood that he caused to flow from 
his people, and the mountains of bodies that followed 
his progress, and he often recalled the horror of this 
spectacle. When at Saint Helene he expressed the 


indignation and horror that possessed him when he 
viewed the innumerable victims of the Swiss and of the 
Chevaliers, on his way from the shop to the hotel on that 
bloody morning of August loth. 

VIII. 

THE PRETTY SERGEANT. 

It was a man unknown, obscure, mysterious that 
Catharine found in his forbidding room at the hotel, a 
man impatiently awaiting what fortune might have in 
store for him, irritated by its capriciousness and delay, 
a man who had resolved to admit anything that knocked 
at his door. 

On his return from the Carousel, on this bloody 
morning of the loth of August, he had endeavored to 
find in persistent work a repose of spirit, distraction for 
his thoughts that he might forget the tragic spectacle 
that had offended his eyes as he looked at it from the 
windows of the shop where he had sought refuge. He 
had taken down a map and' given his time to the atten- 
tive study of the region of the Midi, the littoral of the 
Mediterranean, Marseilles, and the vicinity of Toulon, 
where the agitation of the royalists was extreme and 
was menaced by the English fleet lying off the shore. 

From time to time he looked up from the map before 
him and resting his head between his hands he appeared 
to be thinking intently. 

He saw then in his mind’s eye captured cities, and 
himself riding in, mounted upon a white horse, the vic- 
tor of. these conquered peoples, great crowds shouting 
about him, amid the acclamations of his soldiers. Then 
he saw a bridge over which he fought his way, the flag 
of his country in his hand, his loyal battalions following 
him, the enemy fleeing before him. Then he saw 
strange troops, attired in rich vestments embroidered 
in gold, who came to him, and gathered around him, 
and threw their weapons upon the ground and bowed 
their turbans before his tent. He saw triumphal 
marches amid vanquished opponents in far-off countries, 
in strange and ancient countries, the broiling sun of the 
Midi shone upon his head, the snows of the North froze 
his blood, and with it all there were fetes, receptions, 
conquered kings and queens offering him alliances, 
there was glory, there was an apotheosis. 


It was a fantastic dream based on nothing, and it dis- 
appeared when he brushed his hands through his hair 
and dashed water over his haggard face. He opened 
his eyes, and the reality of his desperate condition was 
impressed upon him. 

He was without money, without employment, the 
Ministry had ignored his prayers, the officials were hos- 
tile, he had no friend, no protection. His misery was 
black and overpowering, the phantasms of his ambition 
were dissipated by the brutal reality of his life; his proj- 
ects were no more than a house built of cards. 

He resolved while he sat there to quit France and 
seek a commission in the service of Turkey. Then he 
returned to his maps and his eye sought the borders of 
the Mediterranean, where he was cradled as a child, 
where the thunder of the cannon was the first sound 
that he remembered. 

Oh, if he could be there, where he could do battle 
for his country in the face of.the English guns ! 

There came two knocks at the door. Napoleon hesi- 
tated, he could brave danger without a qualm, he went 
into battle without a tremor, but he was startled by the 
helpless condition in which he was placed and the 
thought that this new-comer was there to demand money 
from him which he did not have. 

Again came the knock, this time much louder. 

“ It is probably Maugard, who has come up for me to 
pay that note! ” Napoleon said uneasily. “ But I must 
see him. Come in! ” 

But the door did not open. - 

“ Come in! ” he repeated impatiently and in an angry 
tone, and then he said to himself, “ No, it can’t be the 
housekeeper, and Junot or Bourrienne would not wait 
for an answer. Who can it be that has come here 
to-day?” He was uneasy because he was not in the 
habit of receiving visitors. He looked toward the door 
waiting for the intruder to appear. 

The key rested in its lock, the door was free and 
slowly it opened disclosing a young man wearing a uni- 
form. A genteel young man, a fresh-looking young man 
with pink cheeks and delicate complexion, without a 
beard and with expressive dark eyes. On his arm was 
the mark of a sergeant, and the mark was new as though 
he had been but that day appointed. 

“Well, what do you want of me ?” Napoleon roughly 
demanded. 


57 


The young sergeant made a military salute. 

“ Is it the captain of artillery, Bonaparte, that I have 
the honor to address?” the young man said in a sweet, 
low voice. 

“ Yes, what business have you with him ? ” 

“ My name is Rene,” the young man said with 
hesitancy. 

“ Rene, well, who are you ? ” and Bonaparte glared 
rather savagely upon the visitor. 

“Yes, my name is Rene,” the sergeant replied with a 
little more assurance in his voice, “ and I belong to the 
battalion of volunteers from Mayenne-et-Loire, and I am 
called the pretty sergeant.” 

“Well, you certainly deserve your name,” said Bona- 
parte sarcastically, “you certainly have a very pretty air, 
but a trifle too coquettish for a soldier.” 

“You should see me under fire, captain,” the young 
man responded, drawing himself up to his full height. 

Bonaparte made a grimace and looked in a melan- 
choly sort of way at the youth and then growled: 

“ Under fire ! They certainly wouldn’t send you there ! 
But what is it you want, what can I do for you ? ” 

“ Well, captain, you see my battalion is commanded 
by M. de Beaurepaire” 

“ Brave man, an energetic soldier, I know him well and 
I admire him,” Bonaparte interrupted. “ And where is 
your battalion now ? ” 

“ In Paris. Only for a few days. We arrived from 
Angers, and we have requested the honor of being sent 
to the front; we are now going to the relief of Verdun.” 

“Good ! You must be very happy to be able to go 
into active service,” Napoleon replied with a tinge of 
regret in his voice. “Now, what is it that you want 
from me ? ” 

“Well, captain, I have a brother in Marcel” 

“Your brother’s name is Marcel ?” Napoleon asked. 

“ Marcel Rene ! ” answered the pretty sergeant, look- 
ing a little troubled and dropping his eyes beneath the 
steady glance of the artillery captain. “ My brother is 
a doctor, he has been attached as aide to the Fourth 
Regiment of artillery at Valence.” 

“That’s my regiment, or rather my ex-regiment ! ” 

“Yes, captain; I have been told that you could be 
found here in Paris; a member of the National Guard 
told me so this morning, Lefebvre, the sergeant, perhaps 
you know him ? ” 


58 


“Oh, yes, Lefebvre is a brave fellow, I know him. 
What did he say to you ? ” 

“ Well, I thought perhaps — possibly you would say a 
word to the commander — maybe with your influence, 
my brother might be permitted ” 

Napoleon was thinking very hard, but without taking 
his eyes from the pretty sergeant who seemed to grow 
more and more embarrassed, but the embarrassment 
was finally pushed aside by an effort, and, as if resolving 
to say all that he had to say as quickly as possible, the 
visitor tumbled his words out so rapidly that Napoleon 
could hardly understand him. 

“Well, what I want is to have my brother sent from 
the regiment at Valence to the army of the North, he 
wants to be with me and I don’t want to lose sight of 
him, we want to be near to each other and if he should 
be wounded I would know where to find him, perhaps 
I might be able to save him. Oh, captain, won’t you 
do all you can to make us happy in this way; if you can 
only bring us together again, you shall have our eternal 
gratitude.” 

Napoleon arose from his chair and going over to the 
sergeant he put his hand on that officer’s arm and said: 

“ My child, I can do nothing for you, nor for him 
whom you call your brother. Lefebvre should have told 
you that I am without an assignment, without any stand- 
ing; they have taken away my sword and my influence 
in the Fourth Artillery amounts to nothing; it would be 
useless to you, I have not a single friend in Paris; I am 
alone and I require influence myself. I can only say that 
I am acquainted with the brother of an influential man, 
a former deputy named Maximilian Robespierre; he lives 
quite near here in the Rue Saint Honore, and perhaps he 
will do for you what he would probably refuse me. Go 
and see young Robespierre.” 

“Thanks, captain; how can I ever express my grati- 
tude?” 

Bonaparte raised his finger and shaking it at the 
young sergeant, while a broad smile spread over his face, 
said: 

“ I tell you what you can do, my brave sergeant, put 
on the clothes that belong to your sex for you are tak- 
ing big chances in that costume just now.” 

The pretty sergeant forthwith began to tremble, and 
said: 

“ Oh, pardon me, captain, there is no treason in it; 


59 


be generous and don’t divulge my disguise. I am a 
woman ! ” 

“Yes, I had a suspicion of that when you came in,” 
said, Napoleon all his good humor restored; “but how 
about your comrades and your officers ? have they dis- 
covered it ? ” 

“Well, we have in our battalion a good many very 
young people, and really, captain, I take the service very 
seriously.” 

“I don’t doubt it; so you are a volunteer, and you 
want to join the army of the North, and you want this 
doctor, this aide, Marcel, for whom your affection as a 
brother is certainly very touching, you want him to be 
enrolled with you. Oh ! don’t think for a moment that 
I ask you to tell me your history; keep that as your own 
secret. You have interested me and if I can do any- 
thing at all for you, you can count on me. Now go and 
see Robespierre; tell him his friend, Bonaparte, sug- 
gested that you see him.” 

And he pressed the hand of the pretty sergeant, who 
went away with every evidence of joy. Napoleon looked 
after Rene until she had disappeared from sight, his 
face lighted up for an instant and he muttered to him- 
self as if in envy: 

“ They are in love, and they want to fight together for 
their country ! They must be happy ! ” 

He reseated himself at his table, and with his finger 
he traced upon the map the roads to Toulon, the great 
maritime centre of the Midi, and exclaimed in exulta- 
tion: 

“ Oh, if I could fight the English ! and that is the place 
to fight them, there ! ” 

His finger was fixed upon a point on the map, an un- 
known place visible only to himself, but where in his 
thoughts he could see a vanquished English fleet. 

IX. 

THE INDEBTEDNESS TO MADAME SANS' GENE. 

After the departure of the pretty sergeant Bonaparte 
sank back into the somnolence of his thoughts and the 
unconsciousness of his work. Engrossed, before the 
map, in the vast projects he had conceived for the 
defense of the Mediterranean littoral, he. drew his rest- 
less eye over the lines that marked the mountains sepa- 
rating France from Piedmont, the key to Italy. 


6o 


In the midst of the strategic calculations he was pro- 
jecting in his mind, a second knock came at the door. 

“ What ! again ! ” Bonaparte exclaimed, impatiently; 

that is strange. This appears to me to be my day for 
visitors. Who is it ? ” he shouted. 

“ It is I, Catharine, the washerwoman,” a female voice 
replied. 

“ Come in,” Napoleon answered. 

Catharine entered, slightly embarrassed and holding 
her basket on her arm. “ I don’t mean to disturb you, 
captain,” she timidly explained, “ but I have brought 
home your linen. I thought, perhaps, you might need it.” 

Without raising his eyes, Bonaparte responded: 

“ The wash ! All right, put it on the bed.” 

Catharine looked at the bed indicated by the indif- 
ferent wave of Bonaparte’s hand. She changed her basket 
from one arm to the other, and then she drew from her 
pocket the note which she had brought with her and 
he.sitated as though undecided as to some action she 
wished to take. She looked at the neat little shoes she 
wore and glanced from the corner of her eyes towards 
Bonaparte, who was leaning over the map spread upon 
the table and apparently oblivious to everything else 
around him. Catharine moved noisily to attract Bona- 
parte’s attention. 

“ He is not very gallant,” she thought, and as he gave 
no heed to her movement, she became piqued and 
coughed violently. 

“ Oh, are you there yet ? ” Bonaparte said, with a 
slight trace of impatience in his voice and the suspicion 
of a frown on his face. “ What are you waiting for ? ” 

“Pardon me, captain; but I want to tell you that I 
am going to get married,” Catharine said with a lively, 
flirtatious air, blushing violently at the same moment 
until her cheeks looked like ripe apples and the flush on 
her plump neck was visible through her fichu. 

“ So, you are going to get married ! ” said Napoleon, 
rather stiffly; “ well, I suppose it will be the best thing 
for you, I certainly hope you will be happy. Who shall 
you marry, some washerboy ? ” 

“No, captain,” Catharine replied, energetically; “he 
is a soldier, a sergeant.” 

“Ah, that is good, you do well to marry into the mili- 
tary, mademoiselle,” Napoleon continued in an amiable 
tone; “to be a soldier is to be twice a patriot. lam 
glad you have had such a good chance.” 


Bonaparte returned to his work, for his interest in love 
and its affairs was no more than mediocre, and especially 
in the love affair of his washerwoman. But as his eye 
sought the threadlike roads wandering over the map it 
also fell upon the well-filled corsage of Catharine, and 
thence it rested on the fresh cheeks that bespoke such 
radiant health and such opulence of blood, the glorious 
tint with which they were overspread contrasting so 
charmingly with the meek and modest mien he had 
noticed when she first entered. 

Napoleon’s preferences in the world of women always 
took the direction of voluptuousness, the perceptible 
contours, the swelling limb, the dress bursting with the 
beauty it confined while failing to conceal were the 
characteristics of those fortunate ladies to whom Napo- 
leon paid his addresses, whether as the poor officer, the 
nervous First Consul, or the easier and redundant 
Emperor. And thus the robust charms of Catharine 
drove from him all thoughts of his strategic manoeuvres 
or the conquests he pictured for his future. 

Napoleon seldom hesitated, and while his gallantry 
may have been slightly allied to brutality, it was as im- 
pulsive as his more serious actions; maps played no part 
in the game where a pretty arm and neck were to be 
considered, and, with one movement, the chair upon 
which he. had been seated was pushed away that he 
might throw his ready arm around the inviting neck' of 
the pretty girl and press his roving hands upon her agi- 
tated bosom. 

Catharine gave a little cry and cleverly slid from the 
embraces of her companion. But the future conqueror 
of Europe was not to be so readily rebuffed, and he re- 
doubled his ardent efforts until Catharine, laughingly 
contesting every step of her retreat, came against the side 
of the bed and with such sudden surprise, as to fall full 
length upon it to the utter destruction of the beautifully 
starched linen she had placed there but a few moments 
before, and where she now found the battlefield that, 
without the trajnmels of a false modesty, she was forced 
to contest with every resource at her command. 

From Napoleon’s mind all interest in Toulon and the 
littoral had disappeared; such work had no place in his 
catalogue of pleasures at that moment, and the siege 
that was occupying him just then was far more impor- 
tant and real than the others that only existed in his 
hopes and imagination, and, despite the skillful employ- 


ment of her clothes basket that Catharine used aS a 
defense, Napoleon was fast realizing in this, his first 
active engagement, the triumph that in later years 
attended his greater campaigns, when Catharine in a 
surprised and startled voice exclaimed: 

“No! no! captain, it is too late! You cannot take 
me! I am engaged! What will my husband say?” 

Napoleon looked earnestly into her face and asked: 

“ Tell me truly, is this marriage a serious matter ? ” 

“ It is most serious,” Catharine replied, looking up at 
her tormentor, “ and when I came here to tell you about 
it, it was to say that I could not continue to do your 
washing.” 

“ Are you going to close your shop, my dear girl ?” 

“ Yes, I shall give up washing. I intend being with 
my husband.” 

“What, with the regiment?” 

“ Certainly, why not ? ” 

• “ Only at present the army has no conveniences for 
housekeeping, but, perhaps,” Bonaparte rejoined in a 
tone of raillery, “ you intend learning to drill, or to 
manoeuvre cannon?” 

“ I can already handle a gun, captain, and as for the 
cannon, I shall have to take lessons from you, because 
my man is in the infantry.” Catharine was now all 
smiles. “ No, I don’t want to fire off any guns,* at least 
not unless I am compelled to, but if they do happen to 
stand in need of a cantiniere, why I think I could give 
them entire satisfaction — and I hope, captain, that you 
will let me have your custom, that is of course if you 
serve on our side.” 

“ I shall inscribe myself as a member of your canteen 
— but not at present, my dear, the ministry will not now 

permit me to fight; they won’t permit me to ” he had 

begun to say “ won’t permit me to eat,” but checked 
himself in time to conclude his comments by saying: 
“Won’t permit me to spend their money in any can- 
teen, but later, my dear girl, later it will be different.” 

Napoleon returned to the table and Catharine with 
unrestrained sympathy, gave utterance to her feelings 
at the unmistakable sadness these few words had 
aroused in Napoleon’s heart, at the neglect he suffered 
from the indifferent Ministry. She rearranged the 
despoiled linen as well as she might, and, making a 
graceful courtesy, she opened the door as though to go, 
but recalling something she had forgotten, she turned 


^igain to Bonaparte and said: “ Captain, I destroyed one 
of your shirts, but I have given you another for it, you 
will find it there on the bed. Au 7'evoir, captain.” 

Au revoir, until we meet at your canteen, my dear.” 

As she went down the stairs she murmured to herself: 

“ I brought that note with me, but I didn’t have the 
courage to give it to him. Pshaw! he will pay me 
some day ; I’m willing to trust him ; I am not like 
Citizen Fouche, I am sure he will make a name for 
himself.” 

Thinking thus and enjoying the pleasant memory of 
her amusing escapade, Catharine was in a particularly 
good humor, and all sorts of extravagant ideas ran 
through her foolish mind. 

“ If he had only spokeii earlier, not to-day, of course 
not, but some other time, before I had become engaged 
to Lefebvre ” 

She interrupted the train of tardy regrets and tried 
to drive the picture of the poor artillery officer from her 
thoughts. 

‘‘ I must cure myself by not thinking of him; he never 
thinks of me. I will go to the shop, perhaps Lefebvre is 
there. He loves me I am sure, and I am just as certain 
he will make a much better husband than this Captain 
Bonaparte would.” 

She hurried along, and, as she approached her shop, 
she heard shouts and great cries in the streets, and, won- 
dering what it might be, she turned the corner nearest 
to her home with apprehension and uncertainty within 
her. But it was a peaceful scene and all the neighbors 
took part in it. There was Lefebvre, without his mus- 
ket, his shoulder belt thrown off, but in his hand a naked 
sabre ornamented with golden dragons; his comrades 
were around* him and they made a triumphal proces- 
sion. 

“ Catharine, I am a lieutenant,” he cried as soon as 
she came in sight, and as he joyously ran to the side of 
his fiance. 

“ Long live Lieutenant Lefebvre,” clamored the guards- 
men, throwing their caps and muskets into the air. 

“ Thank you, comrades,’^ said the new officer, present- 
ing Catharine to them, “ and long live Citoyenne 
Lefebvre, because she is my wife; we are to be married 
next week ! ” 

“ Long live Citoyenne Lefebvre ! ” the guards enthu- 
siastically echoed. 


-- — 64 ““ 

Long live Madame Sans-Gene,” the neighbors took 
up the cry. 

“ Don’t shout so loud,” Catharine whispered to Le- 
febvre, thinking of Neipperg who was asleep in the 
little bedroom off the shop. 

* ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

In the bare room at the Hotel de Metz, meanwhile, 
the officer of artillery, without money and without em- 
ployment, having finished his study of the map, had put 
it carefully aside and arranged his linen with due con- 
sideration for its cleanliness, on the wooden table. 

“ Happily she did not present the note ! ” said the 
future Emperor with satisfaction that she had forgotten 
it and thus had not exposed him to the mortification of 
admitting his inability to pay. 

He mentally went over his debts. 

“ I must owe her at least 'thirty francs, perhaps more 
than that. The devil ! the very first money I get I 
must pay her, she is a good girl, Catharine, and I won’t 
forget her.” 

Then he dressed in his only other suit and went to dine 
with his friends, the Permons. 

This modest -debt Napoleon owed remained unpaid 
for many years. 

And Napoleon went to his acceptable dinner thinking 
no more of the washerwoman’s note, and unconscious 
of the part it was destined to play in the history of 
Neipperg, Blanche, the pretty sergeant, Marcel, little 
Henriot, the adventures and glory of Catharine who was 
in succession the washerwoman, the cantiniere, the 
Marchioness Lefebvre and the Duchess of Dantzic, and 
of a multitude of other characters sympathetic and pop- 
ular, old and young, heroic and charitable, 

% 

X. 

THE INTERCEPTED LETTER. 

“ There they go; they won’t stop. See what a racket 
that driver makes when he passes here; it appears to me 
as though he did it for very defiance.” 

“ There are not many travellers to-day, anyhow.” 

“ I have seen more. Those must be going to the Lion 
d’Or.” 

“ Or the Cheval Blanc.” 

The words were emphasized by a sigh, and at every 



“LONG l.IVE MADAME SANf>-GENEl'’ 








6s 


period there was a melancholy choking as though salva- 
tion were rolling out of reach in the post-chaise. The 
lean proprietor of the Hotel de L’Ecu and his cadaver- 
ous wife stood in the doorway of their house on the prin- 
cipal street of Damartin and watched the cumbrous stage- 
coach as it clattered along. 

T ravellers were, indeed, rare, and they had been getting 
alarmingly less daily with the events that had followed 
the 2oth of June* The carriage that had just passed 
out of sight of the disappointed couple had left Paris 
early in the evening. It was the last vehicle to go 
through the tfarriers, for orders had been given later in 
the evening, so soon as it was decided to attack the 
Tuileries, that no one should be permitted to leave the 
city. 

Advised by his friends in the agitated' districts of the 
movement that was on foot, Baron de Lowendaal had 
postponed his marriage with the Marquis de Laveline’s 
daughter, and made hasty preparations to get away. 
On the evening of the 9th of August, the baron, accom- 
panied by his factotum, Leonard, carrying all the 
money they could secure, stepped into the post-chaise, 
and told the driver they would go as far as the first 
relay. 

At Crepy they made a stop, the horses were unable 
to travel any further. 

Morning had chased away the night, and at the early 
hour they were set down at Crepy bright day was 
breaking over the great plain that stretched away in the 
distance, the last stars were glimmering in the darkened 
blue of the heavens, and the first shafts of a new sun 
were faintly lined over the horizon. 

The Baron de Lowendaal was going to his chateau, 
located near the village of Jemmapes, on the Belgian 
frontier. Originally from France, the baron dwelt on 
Belgian soil in easy security, the revolution would not 
seek him there. 

He had fixed upon November 6th as the date of his 
marriage, because immediately thereafter he had busi- 
ness of vast importance to transact at Verdun in con- 
nection with some extensive tobacco interests there, and 
he desired to make the visit as one of the pleasant stops 
upon his wedding journe5^ He had left Paris now, con- 
fident in his ability to escape even though any chance 
should send a troop after him in pursuit. He had good 
horses and their speed had already placed many miles 


66 


between himself and the rioters who were causing the 
streets of Paris to run with blood. 

When the baron and Leonard stepped out of the chaise 
at the post-house in Crepy, the proprietor of that some- 
what pretentious establishment greeted the new-comer 
with warmth, offered him a comfortable room and the 
selection of numerous savory dishes from a varied and 
enticing menu, and urged his acceptance of a multitude 
of unctuous attractions all with the too apparent de- 
sign of gathering the latest news from the capital in 
return. 

When the seizure of the King, at Varennes, occurred, 
not only the municipalities but the individual citizens 
had been inspired with an ambition to emulate in some 
manner the glory of Citizen Drouet, who had enjoyed 
the honor of arresting Louis XVI., and, in pursuance of 
this desire, every stranger was, in their eyes, an escaped 
royalist, every carriage carried a suspicious refugee. 

Happily for the baron the local patriotism had not 
yet been aroused when the post-chaise, on which he was 
a passenger, made its entry into the pretty village of 
Crepy-en-Valois, and so he was speedily and safely 
domiciled and within a few moments thereafter was 
seated before an appetizing bowl of rich chocolate, 
while Leonard was looking after things in the stable, 
and beneath the light of a lantern was reading a letter 
that had been handed to him by Mademoiselle de 
Laveline at the moment when he was leaving Paris. 

Blanche had earnestly requested him, her prayer 
being strengthened by the gift of two double louis, to 
deliver this most important communication to Baron 
de Lowendaal when they had gone a few miles outside 
the city. Leonard had given his word of honor that 
the mission should be faithfully fulfilled, but now the 
thought occurred to him that before doing so, it would 
be just as well for him to look at the contents of this 
letter and satisfy himself whether it were really such an 
important document as the young lady seemed to think. 

He was impressed with the consciousness that the 
secrets of the master are the fortune of the servants. 
His keen appreciation of the possible value of the mis- 
sive was largely due to the powers of observation with 
which he was gifted, and which had satisfied him that 
the mar riage, evidently so full of promise to the baron, 
was looked upon with dread and dismay by Mademoi- 
selle Blanche. Perhaps in the letter thus given into his 


care he might find some grave revelations that would re- 
dound to his profit later on. 

Filled with -this belief, Leonard heated the blade of 
his knife in the lamp of his lantern and cautiously re- 
moved the seal from the letter, taking great care he 
might do so without marring its crest or destroying its 
outlines that he might restore it without the pil-fering 
being discovered. With much patient toil his task was 
accomplished, and, as he read the secrets Mademoiselle 
Laveline had intended for the eyes of the baron alone, 
he was overwhelmed with the profoundest surprise nad 
with the most supreme delight. 

These were the words Blanche had entrusted to paper: 

“ Monsieur le Baron, 

“ I owe you a painful avowal, one that for some time I have 
wished to make, that your illusion concerning me might be re- 
moved, and thus avoid the cruel awakening that might come later 
and at a less convenient period. 

“You have given evidence of your affection for me, and you 
have obtained the consent of my father to a marriage, wherein 
you think you will find happiness and, perhaps, love. . 

“Happiness for you is impossible in such a marriage; love I 
can assure you, you will never have ; my love belongs to another. 
Pardon my declining to give that other’s name, but he possesses 
my soul, and I am his wife in the sight of Heaven. 

“After this, there remains but one more confession I can make : 
I am a mother. Monsieur le Baron, and only death can separate 
me from my husband, the father of my little Henriot. 

“ I shall follow with M. de Laveline to Jemmapes, since that is 
his wish, but I dare to hope that being informed of this insur- 
mountable obstacle to the realization of your plans, you will have 
pity for me and spare me the shame of being forced to reveal to 
my father the true cause that makes this union impossible. 

“ I place myself, monsieur, at your discretion as a man of honor. 
Burn this letter and believe in my esteem and in my friendship. 

“ Blanche.” 

“ Great God ! This will make my fortune,” Leonard 
cried aloud in an exultant voice, and then he looked 
again at the letter and read it once more, and turned it 
over and over in his hands as though he would calculate 
in this manner the exact amount^of gold he would 
realize from its possession. 

“ There is one thing that is very plain,” he said to 
himself, “ Monsieur le Baron wants mademoiselle, and 
mademoiselle does not want M. le Baron. But I never 
would have thought that Mademoiselle Blanche has a 
baby, still less would I have supposed she would have 
told of the escapade to M. le Baron. These women are 


68 


devils! and I suppose this little Blanche is just as bad 
as they make ’em. But, pshaw, what does a baby more 
or less amount to? Nothing! The foolish part of it was to 
put it on paper, — but happily it fell to me! ” 

He ceased his muttering prattle and once more looked 
the letter through. 

“ She has written it herself, she can’t deny the writ- 
ing! Oh, she is too confiding, this dear child! She prob- 
ably regrets it by this time, that which she did in a 
moment of recklessness and nervous excitement. How 
lucky that she confided to me her honor and her fortune.” 

He made a movement as though he were prompted to 
some action which his better judgment checked before 
he could put it into practice, then he put the letter 
carefully in his pocket. 

“ Mademoiselle Blanche will perhaps pay well for 
this some time in the future, when she becomes Madame 
la Baronne de Lowendaal; for that is inevitable, and 
she may want it back, then I will set a price on it that 
may represent a value it then has. Perhaps at that time 
a little gold will not be so much of an object; I may 
ask something better — some other price.' I am not 
wholly insensible to the stylish Mademoiselle Blanche 
myself. But- yet for the present there is nothing for 
me to do but take precious good care of this proof, this 
weapon and discreetly encourage the plans of my 
master who, more than ever, must marry Mademoiselle 
Blanche.” 

Then Leonard, his mind filled with contemplation of 
blackmail and bluster, buttoned his coat securely over 
the letter with a satisfaction that was ferocious in its 
intensity and with a lurking desperation in his face 
that showed he would guard with his life the possession 
of this paper, that owed its existence to the indiscretion 
of an imprudent victim who attached her signature to 
its incriminating words. 

Slightly uneasy, he rejoined the baron, who had fin- 
ished his breakfast and was walking up and down 
before the hotel, an object of intense interest on the 
part of a curious crowd that always gathered around 
the door when the post-chaise was ready to make its 
start. Leonard gave some plausible explanation of his 
absence, averring that it came from his loyal anxiety to 
see for himself that all things about the carriage were 
in proper condition and that no delay might be expected 
in their getting away. 


69 


The baron, who had been put in an exceedingly good 
humor by the palatable breakfast he had just consumed, 
was satisfied with this explanation, and, mounting into his 
seat on the carriage, they immediately drove off, rum- 
bling over the pavement in the vicinity and soon leaving 
the little town far behind. 



XI. 


IN THE HOME OF THE FRUIT-DEALER. 


In a fruit store on the Rue de Montreuil, in Ver- 
sailles, Mother Hoche served her customers and at the 
same .time she kept a motherly watchfulness over a 
little boy whd was playing around the barrels and boxes 
that were filled to overflowing with the appetizing 
stock. 

Henriot ! Henriot ! don’t put those things in your 
mouth, they’ll make you sick,” Mother Hoche cried from 
time to time, when the little boy tried to swallow a 
carrot or take a bite off of a turnip. And the good 
woman continued to serve her patient customers all the 
while. 

The little mischief-maker; what a busy youngster 
that is ! but he is a good boy all the same.” 

It was with an expression of pride that every few 
moments her eyes sought the child, and it was with more 
than usual solicitude that she guarded him against acci- 
dent. In the midst of the delicate transaction in con- 
cluding the sale of a quantity of salad to a most par- 
ticular countrywoman, she was aroused from the rou- 
tine of her labors and surprised in an exclamation of 
delight, by the appearance at the door of a full uniformed 
captain followed by a lieutenant whose arm was tightly 
grasped by a pretty young woman tastefully dressed 
in an organdi robe and wearing upon her head a bon- 
net, that rose high in the air and was embellished 
with all sorts of flowers. The captain was a handsome 
fellow with a jaunty manner and a martial countenance. 
He wore the uniform of the Grenadiers and his sword 
rattled against the floor as he came over to the counter 
with his hands extended in friendly greeting. 

Why, Mother Hoche, you don’t know me ! ” he said, 
at the same time laying his hand affectionately on the 
old woman’s shoulder. “Why, my good old mother, 


70 


don’t you see I’m a captain ! It is a surprise I know. I 
was only promoted yesterday, and I promised myself* 
the first thing I did would be to come and embrace you, 
and I’ve invited my two friends to come with me.” 

The captain was Lazare Hoche, the adopted son of 
the excellent woman who kept the shop, and to whom 
he hastened to present his companions: 

“ This is Fran9ois Lefebvre, lieutenant, one of my com- 
rades in the French Guards. It was all on his account 
that I went into the army anyhow, you know,” said 
Hoche, slapping his hand down on the epaulet of his 
friend. 

“And he is now my superior!” Lefebvre laughingly 
added. 

“Oh, that’s nothing. 'You’ll go up ahead of me prob- 
ably; war is a lottery where every one gets a prize. But 
here I have not finished my introductions. Mother, this 
is Catharine, the wife of my friend Lefebvre,” continued 
Hoche, as the fruit-dealer and the ex-washerwoman of 
the Rue Royal Saint Roch exchanged their greetings. 
“Now,” said Hoche, “as you all know each other, we 
have an errand to do that will take us a few moments.” 

“What, you’re not going already?” said the good 
woman in a disappointed voice; “why, you haven’t been' 
here long enough to pay you for coming.” 

“ Don’t be disturbed, we’re only going around the 
corner, we have some business there with several officers 
who are waiting for us; and we will return quickly; 
we’ll be gone just long enough for you to get us up one 
of those delightful ragouts that you can make better 
than any one else.” 

“You mean made of goose giblets and turnips, don’t 
you ? ” 

“ That’s it, they are simply delicious, those giblets, 
and then Catharine wants to talk to you about that 
youngster over there,” and Hoche nodded towards the 
little boy who was rolling around on his back, with his 
great eyes staring at the new-comers. 

“ About my little Henriot ? ” said Mother Hoche with 
surprise. 

“Yes,” said Catharine, breaking in at this point. 
“Yes, I want to talk about little Henriot; in fact, it is 
because of him that I came here, otherwise I think I 
should have allowed Lefebvre to have come with the 
captain without me.” 

“ Well, you go on, we’ll fix up a lunch for you,” said 


71 


the woman; “and we’ll have the turnips and some 
chicken and a lard omelette; how will that suit you ?” 

“ Great! a lard omelette ! ” Hoche turned to Lefebvre, 
saying, “ mother can make the greatest lard on\elette 
you ever tasted; so come on, Fran9ois, and leave these 
two for awhile.” 

The two friends, locking arms, strolled off to their 
mysterious rendezvous, and the two women, left to 
themselves, began to prepare the luncheon. 

While she was preparing the vegetables and aiding to 
truss the chicken, Catharine told Mother Hoche why 
she came looking for the child, and that she intended 
taking the boy to his mother. The good woman was 
saddened by these words, for she was strongly attached 
to Henriot; he reminded her of her own little Lazare. 

“ Where are you going to take him ? ” Mother Hoche 
inquired. 

“We are going way off to the frontier; Lefebvre has 
been made captain and is detailed there.” 

“ Oh, the same as Lazare ! ” 

“ Yes; only we are in the Thirteenth Infantry, and he 
has received an order to report at Verdun.” 

“ Well, now your husband is going away to the army, 
why can’t little Henriot remain here; you can see him 
just as often as you wish.” 

“ Well, there is a little difficulty,” said Catharine, in a 
low voice, “ and I have got to go with Lefebvre.” 

“ What, to his regiment ? You, my pretty child ? ” 

“ I am going to the Thirteenth Regiment, and I have 
here in my pocket a commission as cantiniere. You 
see, my commission is all right and I am ordered to 
join my corps in eight days without delay. That is the 
reason I must go to Verdun; there we shalj put down 
the royalists who are conspiring with Brunswick.” The 
new cantiniere made an exultant exclamation at this 
promise to do away with her enemies. 

Mother Hoche looked at the fresh young maiden 
before her and then, with blood mounting into her own 
cheeks and with an intensity of gaze that bespoke the 
picture she saw in her mind’s eye, she said: 

“What! You’re going to be a cantiniere? Ah! it is a 
great opportunity, how I should love to be in your 
place, to march to the sound of the drum, to see my 
great country, to get all the happiness every day that 
you will get, my dear girl; the soldier is at his best at 
the canteen; there he forgets all his miseries, and dream§ 


72 


that he will become a general — or a corporal! And then 
on the mornings of the combat they can’t speak of the 
uselessness of woman; you will see the army march out 
to battle, rank by rank, following regiment after regi- 
ment, the defenders of our nation, and you will supply 
them with heroism and courage — at two sous a glass. 
The brandy that the cantiniere carries is her powder and 
the little barrel over her shoulder has more than once 
contributed to victory. I admire you, citoyenne, and I 
want to know you better. How I wish I were young 
and I should insist upon accompanying my dear Lazare 
as you are going to follow Lefebvre. But what about 
the child? You can’t have little Henriot in the midst of 
the camp, and exposed to dangers of war ? ” 

‘‘As cantiniere of the Thirteenth, I have the right to a 
horse and wagon, which we have already arranged for,” 
said Catharine, “ I have sold my wash shop and Lefebvre 
has received a little sum, an inheritance from his father, 
who was a cabinetmaker of Ruffach. You know Ruf- 
fach; it is right near to where I used to live in Alsace. 
Oh! we shall want for nothing, and the little boy would 
not be better taken care of if he were the son of the 
commander. I hope you don’t think that you will ever 
regret that the boy went with us ? ” Saying which, Catha- 
rine picked up the child from the floor and raised him 
so that she might kiss his pretty mouth. 

At this moment there was a disturbance at the 
entrance door, which called their attention from the 
petting of the infant, and they looked up to see Hoche 
coming in, leaning heavily on the arm of Lefebvre. 

He began to speak as soon as he stepped foot in the 
shop, and as the women threw their first glance upon 
him, they ’saw that his head was bound around with a 
handkerchief stained with blood, and the terrible evi- 
dences of a wound trickled down over his cheek. 

“It isn’t anything, mother!” he cried out; “it is 
nothing at all, simply a little cut on my head, where I 
struck it against the table while I was skylarking.” 

“ Oh, my God ! he is wounded. What have you done 
to him?” cried Mother Hoche. “You have had some 
part in this assassination. Lieutenant Lefebvre.” 

Hoche laughed heartily at this, and said: 

“ Don’t accuse Lefebvre, my dear mother. It was he 
who stood by me in a little affair I have just had; it was 
simply a duel with a colleague of mine. I tell you, 
really, it doesn’t amount to anything ! ” 


73 


Oh, I knew you were up to something that you 
shouldn’t be,” said Catharine. 

But Hoche made no reply; he was entirely occupied 
in reassuring his good mother, who in turn was rushing 
around with water and cloths to wash the blood from 
his face and dress the ugly wound that extended from 
his hair down to the top of his nose. 

‘‘ Hoche has always been a brave fellow,” said Lefebvre; 
“ but when this rascal Serre insulted him he was really 
powerless to do anything at all. Serre was the terror 
of the quarters, and he killed or wounded no end of 
people in duels” 

“Well, why didn’t he fight him right away; was it 
because he was a terror that he hesitated?” Mother 
Hoche responded, forgetting all about the danger to her 
son in this imputation upon his courage. 

“Why,” replied Lefebvre, “ it was impossible for him 
to do so; Lazare was then nothing more than lieutenant, 
and Serre was a captain.” 

“ Is that any reason why he shouldn’t fight him ? ” 

“ Certainly it is; no one will fight with an adversary 
of lower rank.” 

“ But if that is the case, how did he receive this ter- 
rible cut ? ” 

“Well, now mother, this is all very simple and I will 
tell yoli all about it,” said Hoche. “ Of course, it isn’t 
right that these duels should be fought, because when 
a soldier risks his life in that way, it is just the same as 
though he were to desert; but it was not possible for me 
to tolerate the insults of this scoundrel without resent- 
ing them. Why, what do you think he did ! He insulted 
the wife of a friend of mine, while that friend was away.” 

Lefebvre seized the hand of Hoche and pressed it 
warmly, while a look of the tenderest gratitude filled 
his eyes. “ It was for me, it was for us that he fought ! ” 
Lefebvre said, turning to Catharine. “ This Serre said in 
his presence that you had had a lover in your room all 
day on the loth of August ” 

“ The monster I ” Catharine shouted furiously, “ where 
is he ? It is with me that he will have to settle that affair. 
Tell me where is the miserable liar?” 

“ He is in the hospital, with a big sword hole in his 
stomach. Oh, he is there for six months ! ” answered 
Lefebvre, “and i^he ever get’s cured I’ll find him per- 
haps when he comes out; then I’ll settle my little account 
with him.” 


74 


“ We have other uses for our swords, friend Lefebvre,” 
Hoche said energetically. “ Tlie country is in danger ! 
our country ! We have no right to take these individual 
risksr My adversary slandered and insulted my friend, 
and, notwithstanding my repugnance to this sort of thing, 

I drew my sword and I have given him a lesson that he 
will remember. But, come now, come, let us talk of . 
something else, and if the ragout is ready, let us get 
around the table.” 

“ But your wound ! ” said Mother Hoche, still visibly 
affected by the suffering she felt her adopted son was 
subjected to; but they all took their seats at the table, 
where the appetizing odor of the soup was rising in the 
volumes of steam that came from the inviting dish. 

“Bah !” Hoche exclaimed gaily, “what do I want of 
this rag, the Austrians and the Prussians will give me 
something much worse than this, a blow more or less is 
of no consequence, and this is already healed,” and with 
a flourish he threw away the handkerchief that was 
bound about his head, and laid bare the ragged scar 
that was ever afterward a characteristic on the martial 
countenance of the future General of the Army of 
Sambre-et-Meuse 


XII. 

THE YOUNG LADY OF SAINT-CYR. 

The simple but savory repast being finished, -Mother 
Hoche and Catharine prepared little Henriot for his 
departure, gathering together his modest possessions, 
which consisted of a limited wardrobe and a quantity of 
dilapidated toys; they packed them away in a trunk 
with as much care as though they were really precious, 
and then they incurred the risk of a general ruin by 
yielding to the kindly heart of Mother Hoche and utili- 
zing every unoccupied space between the little shirts 
and skirts, by crowding in jars of sweetmeats, pack- 
ages of carefully prepared cakes, or bits of candy and 
sugar. 

The child, meanwhile, expressed in his own way entire 
satisfaction with the change and aided in the prepara- 
tions by throwing into the trunk handfuls of whatever 
chanced to meet his eye. 

He seemed to love the change, this boy. He was 
delighted with the golden dragon on the hilt of Hoche’s 




75 


sword, and he played with it enjoyably until his foster- 
mother and her visitor began to prepare him for going 
away; then he dropped the glittering toy and plunged 
into the happiness of the journey; he heard them talk- 
ing about soldiers and that he would live amongst them; 
that he would see the soldiers, no end of soldiers; that 
he could watch them drill, and it doubtless occurred to 
his infantile mind that he would have endless golden 
dragons and endless sabres to amuse himself with. He 
forgot all the tenderness and all the care of good 
Mother Hoche; there was no sadness in the idea. that 
he was going far away, very far; and it did not give his 
young heart one single pang, nor one disagreeable 
reminder. Infancy is ungrateful and its innocence 
creates a grand egoism, an egoism that concentrates 
all its attention and its thought upon self, that in- 
tensifies the instinct of self-appreciation and a selfish 
life. 

Hoche and Lefebvre talked to the women as they 
worked; they talked of the revolution, which was giving 
evidence that it would sweep over the entire land; they 
talked of the war which already illumined the extreme 
points of the frontier; and after the trunk was packed 
and the little boy was dressed, and the good-bys were 
said, they all went out of the store and sat themselves 
down around a little table on the sidewalk, looking 
down the road to Montreuil. Full of happiness and 
life, inspired by their youth, with hope in their soul, and 
the joy that the thought of a bright future. alone could 
inspire, these two valiant heroes of the army of the 
republic, refreshed by the excellent dinner of Mother 
Hoche, gaily joked, smoked, laughed, and exchanged 
greetings with the passers-by. 

This road from Montreuil, which is to-day called the 
Avenue de Saint Cloud, was the broad highway that 
led into Paris and was constantly traversed by the 
dealers of the city, the soldiers, and the countrymen 
who brought their products into the market. For econ- 
omy’s sake many of the travelers took the little boat 
at the Samaritaine to the Pont Neuf, and from the 
Sevres Bridge they then walked to Versailles and 
back. 

In the midst of this humble crowd that passed before 
them, Lefebvre caught sight of a slender yoifng man 
whose long hair hung down over his collar and who 
was dressed in the uniform of an artillery regiment. He 


76 


passed seemingly in haste, and walking beside him was 
a young girl, dressed in black delaine and carrying in 
her hand a little box. They did not speak as they went 
along, but each seemed engrossed in thought, with eyes 
cast upon the road and an expression on their faces that 
left Lefebvre in doubt whether it was melancholy or 
displeasure that inspired them; but as the lieutenant, 
attracted by some inexplicable reason, followed them 
with his eyes, he felt sure he recognized their faces, and, 
turning to Hoche, he said: 

“ If I am not mistaken I believe that is Captain 
Bonaparte.” 

“ Who is Captain Bonaparte ? ” asks Hoche. 

“ He is a good republican and excellent artillery 
officer, and a red-hot Jacobin,” responded Lefebvre. 
‘‘ He is a Corsican and the Ministry has just retired him 
from the service because of his opinions, but I will 
call my wife, she knows him very much better than 
I do^” 

He called for Catharine who came out hastily asking: 

What is it you want ? ” and she stood before him with 
her hands upon her hips, the favorite attitude of those 
young ladies who enjoy the peculiar dances that are 
popular at the Parisian balls, and a habit Catharine 
never entirely lost even when she became a duchess. 

Isn’t that Captain Bonaparte, who is going along 
the road with the young girl,” Lefebvre inquired. 

“ I declare, it is. I’d know him among ten thousand 
— perhaps because he owes me something, but why 
doesn’t he look this way and see me? Now what in the 
world do you suppose he is doing at Versailles with a 
girl ? Say, Lefebvre, I’ve got an idea.” 

“ What is it ? ” 

Why that we invite him to come here with the 
young lady and join us. It is very warm and a little 
drink perhaps ” 

Lefebvre, without waiting to hear the end of the sen- 
tence and being encouraged by a nod from Hoche, 
jumped up, and walking hurriedly down the road he 
overtook the captain and his companion and invited 
them to return. 

At first Napoleon declined; he said he was neither 
warm noj* thirsty, and then explained that they really 
had no time to lose, because they were going to take 
the boat down to Paris and one left within an hour. 

‘^Bali! There is another one in fiv^ hours,” said 


Lefebvre, and then turning to the young lady he con- 
tinued, “ I am quite sure mademoiselle would not object 
to some refreshments and a chance to rest.” 

Thus appealed to the young girl with a sly glance at 
the captain, remarked that she might be urged to take 
a glass of water, and, as this was quite enough to express 
her preference, Napoleon turned about and the three 
retraced their steps to the fruit-store. Hoche brought 
out another table and some chairs, placing them within- 
the shade of a beautiful tree that spread its branches 
before the door. Then Mother Hoche brought two 
glasses and two bottles of good wine and another bottle 
of gooseberry syrup, and Napoleon presented his sister 
Marie Anne, better knowti under the name of Elisa, 
and who, later, married Felix Bacciochi, and became 
successively Princess of Piombino and Grand Duchess 
of Tuscany. 

Elisa made her courtesy to the company and entered 
heartily into their enjoyment, somewhat to the annoy- 
ance of Napoleon who was always exceedingly jealous 
of his sisters. Elisa was a beautiful girl, a slender 
brunette with a clear complexion, hair that was exceed- 
ingly black and very heavy, full lips that denoted sen- 
suality, her hips were a trifle prominent, her head was 
a perfect oval, and her face was full of intelligence and 
denoted a strong character; her whole appearance was 
noticeable, and, although she was genial and lively, her 
eyes every now and then took an expression of disdain 
when they glanced over the company that was assembled 
before the little shop of the fruit-.dealer. 

Elisa was then sixteen years of age, and she had been 
one of the young ladies of Saint-Cyr, where she was 
receiving her education under the direction of Madame 
de Maintenon. But a decree of August i6th had re- 
duced the educational institute of Saint-Cyr from its 
position as a royal establishment, whereupon the parents 
of the scholars had withdrawn their daughters and the 
place was promptly emptied. Bonaparte, for the want 
of money, had delayed as long as possible removing his 
sister from the abandoned convent, but he could put it 
off no longer, for on the ist of September the building 
was to be closed absolutely. Acting under the advice 
of her brother, Elisa addressed an appeal to the Gov- 
ernment at Versailles requesting a sum sufficient to 
enable her to return to her family in Corsica. 

In consequence of this application, M. Aubreun, at 


78 


that time the Mayor of Versailles, handed in a state- 
ment to the officials to the effect that Demoiselle Mari- 
enne Bonaparte, born January 3, 1777, had entered on 
June 22, 1784, as a student in the Maison de Saint Louis, 
where she then was, and she now asked the sum of 352 
francs to enable her to get back to Ajaccio, the home of 
her family, which was distant 352 leagues. In virtue of 
this authorization, Bonaparte had come this morning to 
get his sister, and she was then returning with him to 
Paris where she would start on her journey to 
Corsica. 

Lefebvre and Hoche cogratulated the captain on hav- 
ing successfully arranged this little family affair and 
having secured sufficient to enable his sister to join her 
mother. Bonaparte explained it was particularly 
satisfactory to him just at that time, because otherwise 
his sister would have to remain alone in Paris as he 
intended to join the army again at once. 

“That is good,” Hoche said with interest; “then you 
are going back to your regiment, are you ? ” 

“ Servan, the Minister of War, has put me back in the 
Fourth Artillery and given me the rank of captain,” 
Napoleon answered. “ But I have obtained permission 
to accompany my sister to Corsica, and there I am 
authorized to resume the command of my regiment of 
volunteers.” 

“Why, that is a first-rate opportunity,” remarked 
Hoche, “and may be you will hav^ a chance to do 
some fighting there.” 

“I shall, if there is any fighting.” 

“ It wouldn’t be any loss if each one of us had an op- 
portunity of killing half a dozen enemies ! ” Catharine 
exclaimed, filled with enthusiasm at the very thought. 

“Ah, if circumstances favor me, my friends,” Bona- 
parte said, with conviction in his voice, and leaning over 
the table and earnestly looking into the face of his com- 
panion-, “ I will create opportunities where you can work 
your way with honor to rank, titles, glory, dignities, and 
riches ! but, excuse us, my sister and myself, or we shall 
be late, and have to walk all the way to Sevres.” 

“ And we, before we take the road to deliver Verdun 
from the Prussians, we must go back to Paris also ! ” 
said Catharine gaily, at the same time taking up little 
Henriot as if she were making ready to depart. The 
child during all this friendly interchange of conversa- 
tion, had looked with considerable impatience on the time 


79 


that was wasted in drinking and gossip without there 
being apparently any disposition to leave. 

“We will meet again, perhaps, Captain Bonaparte,” 
said Hoche, holding out his hand to his colleague. 

“ On the road to glory ! ” added Lefebvre. 

“To arrive there,” said Napoleon, “we must com- 
mence by taking the boat to Sevres. Come along. 
Mademoiselle Saint Louis ! ” 

As they walked down the road and gradually drew 
out of sight from the little shop, Napoleon said: 

“ How do you like that captain ?” 

“ Captain Lefebvre ? ” 

“ No, not him, he is married, Lefebvre. His wife is 
that jolly woman, Catharine. But the other — Lazare 
Hoche ? ” 

“ Oh, he isn’t so bad.’^ 

“ How would you like to marry him ? ” 

The future grand duchess -reddened up a little, and 
made a motion as though she took no particular interest 
in it. 

“ Well, of course, if you don’t care for him,” Napo- 
leon said, laughingly, as though he had interpreted her 
movement as being a refusal, “ why there is no damage 
done. Hoche is a good soldier, and I think he is a man 
with a future.” 

“ I did not say that M. Hoche displeased me,” Elisa 
murmured. “ But, brother, I am too young to talk 

about marrying, and besides” 

“ And besides what ? ” 

“I do not want a man who is not devoted to the king, 
no ! never will I marry a republican ! ” 

“ So you are a royalist ? ” 

“Everybody was at- Saint-Cyr.” 

“ Well, then, that justifies the closing of it up,” Napo- 
leon said with a smile. “Just look at these Demoiselles 
de Saint Louis, what a set of aristocrats ! It may be 
necessary to re-establish the nobility in order to find 
husbands for them ! ” 

“ And why not ? ” replied Elisa, proudly. 

Bonaparte made no answer to the ambitious sugges- 
tion of his sister, for it had set him thinking, and had 
aroused a certain uneasiness when he realized the height 
of his sister’s ideas; he thought, that with most of the 
scholars in Saint Louis it was easy enough to secure an 
exalted husband, but with his sister, having no money, 
a brother without any standing, it would, indeed, be a 


hard task to put her in the position to which she was en- 
titled. Ever haunted by the spectre of his family, he 
constantly saw before him the vision of his unhappy 
mother, surrounded by many children, confronted with 
appetites that were always keen and a sideboard that 
was always empty, and it caused him to regret and 
shrink' under the responsibility he had taken upon him- 
self when he was declared to be the head of his house. 

The future of his three sisters disturbed him above 
everything else, he was desirous of seeing them estab- 
lished in their own homes, and he frequently considered 
how he could secure for them suitable husbands. Hoche, 
as he sav/ him that day, seemed appropriate for the 
young girl; it is true he was but a captain, and yet Na- 
poleon felt he was destined to something higher, and so 
he mumbled, with a slight tone of irritation: 

“There are some who don’t want to marry captains,, 
but girls without a sou, what have they got to risk?”' 
Then remaining silent for an instant,, as though going 
over some secret calculation in his mind, he continued-: 

“ But captains are ready to marry, that is, if they find 
an agreeable woman who is rich and influential and can 
give them a position and rank in the ^vorld, but then it 
is not to young girls that they are looking ! ” 

Considering marriage as a means of rising' above the' 
distresses that ceaselessly attended him, Napoleon was^ 
not averse in seeking for an alliance himself, an alliance 
that would serve as a refuge for him against his misery 
and loneliness, as an instrument of fortune, as a stepping- 
stone to elevate him above the miserable grade of cap- 
tain, but yet the grade that he just now had had con- 
siderable difficulty in recovering. 


XIII. 

THE FIRST DEFEAT FOR NAPOLEON. 

The next day after having received the amount that 
had been appropriated to the Demoiselle de Saint-Cyr 
to pay her return fare to her home, Bonaparte took 
Elisa and called at the house of Madame Permon. He 
wished 'to present his sister to that lady before she went 
to Corsica. 

But, commendable as was this disposition to show a 
polite attention to the friends who had so generously en-. 


8i 


tertained him, there was still another reason in his mind 
that prompted him to visit the widow of his earlier 
acquaintance. 

Madame Permon, mother of the future Duchess 
d’Abrantes was still a noticeably beautiful woman, pos- 
sessing the classic profile of the Greek which she was 
by origin. At an early age she had left Greece and 
gone to live in Corsica 'where she had first known of 
Napoleon’s family. By coquetry she succeeded admirably 
in' concealing her age, and flippant, frivolous, indifferent, 
she lived in an epoch when luxury was difficult and 
dangerous, surrounded by the pretty bibelots of the time 
of Louis XV., and by the furnishings and decorations of 
that deHcate and sensual era, and appeared in their midst 
and to the eyes of her friends as the queen of all that 
was elegant and all that was graceful. 

She was mistress of all sorts of attractions and the 
appearance of this grand dame had inspired the young 
Napoleon with a love that was irresistible, despite the 
slight evidences of growing years that were beginning 
to appear upon her face, and the peculiarities of figure 
that are inseparable from maturity. 

The Permons had enjoyed a snug fortune at one time, 
and Bonaparte who, with Junot, Marmont, and Bour- 
rienne had frequently enjoyed the hospitality of the fam- 
ily at dinner in the exigency of his poverty, supposed 
:that the widow had a reasonable estate remaining to her. 

These considerations had decided him to make a 
double match in the Permon household, and it was 
thus that when he saw Elisa engrossed in conversation 
with Laura, the dear daughter of Mrs. Permon, he 
.escorted the widow to the small salon off the draw-, 
ing-room and there, without any preliminaries, he 
informed her that he had a proposition to make looking 
to the marriage of her son. 

Madame Permon, rather surprised by the nature of this 
^communication, and having her curiosity aroused by the 
suggestion of the youth, asked, with an amused smile 
and twinkle in her eye: 

And who do you propose that my son shall marry ? ” 
My s.ister Elisa ! ” 

“ But she is very young,” responded Madame Per- 
mon, and I know that my son has not now any desire 
to be married.” 

Napoleon compressed his lips as though the answer 
" \Was nbt entirely to his liking, and then he said: 


“ Perhaps my sister, Paulette, who is much prettier 
than Elisa, might suit M. Permon better! And why 
not at the same time marry your daughter Laura to one 
of my brothers, Louis or Jerome ? ” 

“Jerome is younger than Laura,” said Madame Per- 
mon between the spasms of violent laughter these offers 
had aroused. “ Why, in truth, my dear Napoleon, you 
would make a grand priest to-day; you are in a mood 
to marry the entire world — including its babies.” 

Napoleon laughed to conceal his true feeling, and 
said, in an embarrassed way, that the marrying of his 
family was one of the most serious matters with him; 
and then, after a moment’s hesitation, he seized her 
hand, and kissing it twice with the greatest fervor, said 
in a most impassioned way that his wish to unite the 
families was a dear and precious desire on his part, he 
wanted to begin by a marriage between her and himself, 
which he now prayed she would consent to. 

Stupefied to find that she was the object of such a 
violent ambition Madame Permon hardly knew what to 
say for a moment, and for the want of something more 
promising she burst into a fit of ungovernable laughter, 
which Napoleon heard with the coldest and most dis- 
tant air; so austere and disagreeable was his manner 
that Madame Permon hurried to explain. 

“ My dear Napoleon,” she said almost maternally, 
“ you should talk seriously. Do you know my age? I 
have never spoken to you on this point because it is a 
weakness with me to conceal it; but I need now only to 
tell you that I am old enough to be your mother, and I 
am old enough to be your elder brother Joseph’s 
mother; I am almost old enough to be your grandmother; 
so be done with this pleasantry and we will ” 

“ I am not indulging in pleasantry,” Bonaparte con- 
tinued, in a piqued tone; “and I do not see why it 
should arouse your laughter. The age of the woman I 
marry is to me a matter of indifference, and speaking, 
without any wish to flatter, I assure you you do not 
appear to be over thirty.” 

“ I have an advantage then.” 

“ I ignore any difference in age, to me you are young 
and beautiful,” cried Napoleon, with unbridled ardor; 
“ and you are the woman I have dreamed of as a com- 
panion.” 

“ And if I dp not consent to this folly, what shall you 
dp ? ” 


83 


I shall seek elsewhere for the happiness you refuse 
me,” replied Bonaparte, with energy; and then, after an 
instant’s reflection, he went on, “ I wish to marry, and I 
wish a woman as charming as you, of your age, or about 
your age, of good name and of honorable birth. I wish 
to marry, I repeat; now, will you consider it?” 

Madame Permon had not much disposition to reflect; 
her heart was not free, for she loved, secretly, one of her 
cousins, a very handsome man named Stephanopolis. 
She had introduced him to Napoleon, and she had urged 
him to join the Convention Guards that were just then 
being organized. Had it not been for this cousin, who 
became a brave soldier and died an unhappy death, she 
would probably have been urged into an acceptance of 
Napoleon. 

To what small incidents do we owe our destinies ! 
Married to Madame Permon, Napoleon would probably 
never have been general-in-chief of the army in Italy, 
and would, without doubt, have served obscurely in the 
artillery and have passed through the war without 
glory. 

Napoleon, in this exceedingly embarrassing conversa- 
tion, manifested his desire to realize an advantageous 
marriage, to espouse a rich woman who possessed 
facilities to aid him in an active life, who would open 
to him the ranks of a higher society that * was now 
proscribed. 

The double refusal of Madame Permon affected the 
career'of the youthful pensioner of Saint-Cyi*, the Prin- 
cess of Piombino, and the future General Bonaparte, the 
husband of Josephine. 


XIV. 

THE SIEGE OF VERDUN. 

M. DE Lowendaal had accomplished the journey 
from Crepi-en-Valois to Verdun. He had, in fact, 
reached the latter place and was at that moment enter- 
ing the city hall of the threatened city. 

Two great interests had influenced him to visit the 
seat of war and had served to bring him to a city that 
at any moment might be called upon to suffer the priva- 
tions of a siege. 

He had failed in some way to realize the fortune 
he anticipated from the tobacco farm, and it was 


^ — 84 — 

necessary for him to be in Verdun to look after that 
interest. 

And the other, the grave trouble that called him to 
the city, was his projected marriage with Mile. Blanche. 

He wished before uniting himself with Blanche de 
Laveline to dispose of a claim that had now become 
insupportable, but had existed with every evidence 
of affection for many years. 

The history of the affair was in no way different to 
the hundreds of other affairs that enter into the lives of 
so many men. He had met while at Verdun, a young 
girl of an honorable family, but wholly without fortune, 
and who had gone to that city for the purpose of adopt- 
ing a religious life. 

Mademoiselle Hermione de Beaurepaire had not yet 
taken her vows, but she was reconciled to wear the veil 
that she might permit her brother to maintain his rank 
in the world. 

Called to Paris by the cares and exactions of a great 
fortune, the baron had very soon completely forgotten 
poor Hermione. Blinded by his love for Blanche de 
Laveline, he thought with indifference of the young 
woman who awaited him with alternations of anguish 
and hope, while living in the old-fashioned and gloomy 
home of an aged aunt who was very rich and slightly 
indisposed. 

And so this matter had to be adjusted, and, as the 
chaise rolled into the city the baron was still undecided 
as to the Explanation and compensation to be offered 
one who considered herself his only wife. His task was 
made additionally difficult because he had failed to 
terminate the manner of living, and had not signified in 
any way to Hermione they could no longer be the same 
to each other. 

So soon as the baron stepped from the carriage, he 
was assailed by rumors, the most remarkable and con-» 
tradictory, and they reached his hearing with almost 
every step on the road he took to the office of the pro- 
cureur-general where he wished'to -lay before that offi- 
cial the details of the claim he intended to present and 
which represented certain losses he had sustained in his 
tobacco business, due to the neglect c>f the. city. 

The procureur told him when tliose claims were placed 
upon his desk that the finances of the city were at the 
lowest ebb, and it was a question with him whether any 
one would ever receive any compensation. 


85 


“ However,” said the official with a mysterious air, “ I 
think Monsieur le Baron, there is one chance for you to 
receive reimbursement.” 

“ Speak, then, what is it ? ” Lowendaal exclaimed 
quickly. 

“ If we have no money, the Emperor of Austria has 
plenty,” the procureur replied. “ Peace should be main- 
tained and the horrors of a siege should be avoided by 
this unhappy city, and if this can be done, your reim- 
bursement will be sure.” 

The baron hesitated before making response. Cos- 
mopolite, as all financiers were, it was of little moment 
to him whether his money came from the King of 
France or the Emperor of Austria, and he certainly 
Was not hampered by any patriotic scruples. Taking 
all these considerations together, he did not repulse the 
procureur-syndic with indignation when he proposed to 
deliver the city over to its enemies. 

The only comment the baron made was to ask the 
procureur-syndic whether he were confident of his infor- 
mation, if it were certain that the troops of the King of 
Prussia and the Emperor of Austria, when once masters 
of Verdun, would guard the city properly and would 
make an offensive move against the volunteers that 
were reported to be on their way from Paris. 

After having considered the proposition in all its- 
various phases, he spoke of the reinforcements that were 
even then eft route from Paris. 

They will arrive too late,” said the procureur. 

“ Then I am your man! ” the baron said. 

Have you come here from Paris direct, and without 
speaking to any one or letting any one know you are in 
the city ? ” 

“ I have rushed, almost! ” 

“ Have you a man in your suite who is discreet, and 
at the same time is a gossip ? ” 

“ Discreet? Do you mean one who can keep a secret?” 

“ And gossip — that is to say, a man who is capable of 
knowing when to drop a few inconsiderate words where 
they will do the most good?” 

“ I have the very man, Leonard, my valet de chambre. 
What secrets do you want him to keep ?” 

“ First, our plans! ” 

“ He does not know them! ” 

“ He must have his fidelity guaranteed first, secrets 
that are not known are the best guarded.” 


86 


“ And of what must he gossip ? ” 

“ About the news from Paris — that the city is in the 
hands of brigands, that the existence of royal authority 
depends entirely upon the speedy approach of the 
armies of the Emperor of Austria and the troops of the 
King of Prussia.” 

“ Is that all ? Well, Leonard despises the sans culottes, 
so he will acquit himself of his mission with a hearty 
interest in it.” 

“ Your Leonard might also*say that he knows from a 
perfectly authentic and reliable source, that there are 
80,000 English troops about to disembark at Brest and 
march on Paris.” 

“ And what is to be the end of all these alarms? ” 

“ The justification of the decision we shall arrive at 
to-night.” 

“ Where ? ” 

“ Here! There will be an assembly of the principal 
men of the city, and they will decide upon the terms of 
the response to be made to the Duke of Brunswick.” 

“ I have your promise, have I not, for the reimburse- 
ment of my losses ? ” 

“Between honest men, Monsieur Baron, nothing is 
necessary but their word,” said the procureur-syndic as 
he extended his hand towards the baron. 

The two accomplices parted. The one went to in- 
struct Leonard as to his part in circulating the alarming 
rumors among the people, the other hurried to see new 
adherents to the black treason he was striving to 
accomplish. 


XV. 


MADAME SANS-GENE ON SECRET SERVICE. 

On the route to Verdun the volunteers from Mayenne- 
et-Loire, accompanied by a detachment of the Thirteenth 
Regiment, wherein Fran9ois Lefebvre served in the rank 
of lieutenant, but performing the functions of captain, 
gaily marched and sang. Enthusiasm filled their eyes, 
and the desire for conquest animated their hearts. 

As they had passed through the villages on their way, 
the women had gathered on the streets to cheer them, 
had held forth their babes to salute the heroes or to 
receive their kisses. To the marching men their pro- 
gress meant victory or death; they went forward confi- 


87 


dent, vigorous, superb, to the sound of the fife and to 
the martial roll of the drum, their tricolor fluttered in 
the wind and the soul of the entire country animated 
them. Every man when he left his native place had given 
to his parents all that he possessed declaring they must 
look upon him as already dead. 

And these heroes pushed forward, the song upon their 
lips, ready to meet that death for their country, which, 
to them, was a fate most beautiful, the greatest to be 
desired. All along the road they had been followed by 
the echo of the Carmagnole, and its refrain had rung 
out above the clash of their arms and the rumble of their 
train. 

As they approached Verdun, where a heavy wood 
stretched out from the city walls, their commander, 
Beaurepaire, ordered a halt; he felt that it was prudent 
to send forward a reconnoitering party before he ap- 
proached the place. The Prussians could not be far 
away and it had now reached the point where precau- 
tions against an ambuscade would suggest themselves 
to a cautious leader. 

On a small hill, in the midst of a thick forest and well 
concealed from the occupants of the city walls the little 
army pitched its camp. Beneath them stretched a ver- 
dant valley, watered by a pretty stream and having at 
its foot a little settlement of summer houses. A shep- 
herd, who had followed the soldiers since their last camp 
at Dombasle, was brought before the commander and 
questioned as to his knowledge of any movement likely 
to be made by the enemy, and Beaurepaire asked: 

“ Do you know the name of this little village in front 
of us?” 

‘‘Yes, sir, it is Jouy-en-Argonne.” 

Beaurepaire was peculiarly affected by this reply, and 
he stood speechless and wrapped in thought looking 
down upon the modest village and showing by the sad- 
ness of his expression that some unhappy memory was 
recalled to him in thus coming unexpectedly upon the 
approach to the city he was expected to relieve. It 
seemed impossible to turn his attention from the pictur- 
esque group of dwellings, and he searched through them 
as though seeking some hidden treasure he felt was 
there concealed. 

No trace of the encampment, no suspicion of a bivouac, 
nothing that would indicate to those dwellers in the 
valley the presence of a force of soldiers so close at hand, 


88 


] 


was apparent to them, for Beaurepaire had enjoined 
silence and moderation upon his men and he now passed 
among them as they prepared their tents and began to 
get ready for their meal. 

Some cut wood to make the fires, while others clam- 
bered carefully down to the limpid stream and returned 
with water, the cooks prepared the vegetables and the 
meat and soon little fires were started here and there 
and a great kettle was suspended above wherein a savory 
soup was boiling. 

At some distance from the camp proper a covered 
wagon stood and near it a gray horse, tethered to a con- 
venient post, nibbled the succulent grass, while several 
busy workers bustled around evidently preparing from 
the contents of the wagon some popular refreshment 
for the men, which was partly suggested by the allur- 
ing sign hanging conspicuously over the canvas top, 
and reading: 


I3TH INFANTRY. 

MME. CATHARINE LEFEBVRE, 
CANTINIERE. 


At a little distance from the wagon a pretty boy rolled 
about on the grass, coming over occasionally as if for 
protection or encouragement to the cantiniere, who 
patted him on his cheeks as though to reassure him^ 
while at the same time she made no interruption in her 
busy efforts to put her canteen into proper order and 
open it to trade. With the aid of one of the soldiers 
she carried a long plank from the wagon and laid it 
across two stumps, forming thus the table where she 
could display and dispose of her wares. Then she 
brought forth a little tub filled with glasses and plates, 
and arranged them in neat order upon her rough table. 

The canteen was ready. 

Those who loved drink were invited. 

The dusty roads and the patriotic songs had produced 
a keen thirst in the members of the regiment, and they 
welcomed this relief with much good humor. Almost 
as soon as the glasses were placed upon the board they 
were filled and emptied' to the success of the battalion 
from Mayenne-et-Loire, to the deliverance of Verdun, 


89 


to the triumph of liberty! But all these heroes were 
not financially easy, and to those who suffered from the 
inconvenience of the moment, Catharine extended the 
credit of the establishment — she to be reimbursed after 
the first victory. 

Beaurepaire approached this animated picture and 
regarded it with a troubled look; he had no thought for 
anything aside from the little village of Jouy-en- 
Argonne, and, try as best he might, his eyes were con- 
stantly turned in the direction of the picturesque valley. 
As he stood there watching his men enjoy themselves, 
he said to himself: 

“ It is impossible for me to go, but who is it then that 
I can send ? It must be some one in whom I can place 
confidence, a woman would be preferable. But where 
am I to find such a messenger } ” 

And he continued to watch that constantly moving 
throng before him, but his eyes only saw them vaguely, 
for his thoughts were far away in the valley. Presently 
two young men joined the group, young-men who car- 
ried on their sleeve the distinctive mark of the ambu- 
lance corps, and who, talking with great animation, had 
their arms about each other and their heads closely in- 
clined together. 

They were Marcel and Rene, the pretty sergeant. 
Marcel had rejoined Rene, thanks to the efforts of that 
young girl who had secured the influence of Robes- 
pierre upon the introduction of Napoleon, and had been 
detached from the Fourth Artillery. When she left the 
battery she joined the little corps commanded by Beau- 
repaire, where Marcel had already secured his detail. 
The exigencies of the service and the differences in rank 
had separated these two young people, by placing one 
at the head and the other at the end of the column, and 
thus their confidences had been interrupted and their 
present joy was that of an unwilling separation that had 
just been temporarily ended. 

Beaurepaire was attracted by the couple ap- 
proaching him and was taken somewhat by surprise 
at the intimacy that seemed to exist between the ser- 
geant and the major-aide, and he was about to sum- 
mon them to him to explain the meaning of it when 
Lefebvre passed before him and stopped to speak to 
Marcel. 

“You have come from the Fourth Artillery, haven’t 
you ? ” Lefebvre asked. 


90 


Yes, lieutenant, I was in the right line.” 

“ Was there a Captain Bonaparte, who I believe has 
just been restored to his rank in the regimeut, when you 
left it?” 

Captain Bonaparte is now in Corsica; he obtained a 
short leave of absence to go there, but he has written to 
his friends at Valence and we have had considerable 
news about him. They are talking a good deal about 
him in the regiment.” 

Beaurepaire, who had overheard this conversation, 
came forward and said: “ How is Bonaparte? I hope 
that nothing will happen to interfere with his advance- 
ment. I am a friend of his.” 

“ My commander,” said Marcel, “ Captain Bonaparte 
is now at Marseilles, with all his family. But he has 
been in great danger.” 

“ The devil ! Tell me what it is and when he is going 
to get away from there. ” 

“Pardon, commander,” said Lefebvre; “don’t you 
think it will ‘help the story that the major-aide has 
to tell, if we take a little refreshment ? That is my wife 
who is serving at the canteen.” 

“Volunteers!” said the commander, stepping over 
to the table and raising his glass, “ here is to the good 
health of Madame Lefebvre, the beautiful cantiniere 
of the Thirteenth ! ” 

The three touched their glasses, and as they drank, 
Lefebvre, looking towards his wife, said: “The major- 
aide is going to tell us something, he has news from 
Corsica about your friend. Captain Bonaparte.” 

“ Oh, yes ! and you are still jealous of poor Bona- 
parte ! ” Catharine answered. “ Is it something pleasant 
you’ve got to report. Monsieur le Major ? ” 

“ It is how he escaped by a miracle from being 
killed.” 

“ Oh, tell me quickly what it is. Monsieur le Major — 
of course, with the permission of the commander!” 
Catharine exclaimed, with every evidence of deep inter- 
est to learn all she could about her former client. 

Marcel explained, that the Corsicans who were 
opposed to the revolution had made some advances 
towards securing the aid of England, and Paoli, the 
hero of the first years of independence, had negotiated 
with the English authorities and had also tried to enlist 
Bonaparte in his plans, feeling that the co-operation of 
the commander of the National Guard of Ajaccio was 


9 ^ 


indispensable. But Bonaparte had indignantly refused 
to participate in his treason. 

Paoli, irritated by this, had conspired against Napo- 
leon and against those of the population who sided 
with him and had eventually succeeded in forcing 
Napoleon and his brothers, Joseph and Lucien, to 
escape from the island in disguise. Finding the ob- 
ject of his wrath had eluded him, Paoli, in his fury, 
turned against Bonaparte’s mother, and the house where 
Letitia Bonaparte and her children lived was assailed, 
pillaged and burned to the ground, while the courage- 
ous woman saved her own and her children’s lives by 
fleeing into the woods during the night. There she 
might have met with a sad fate had not some devoted 
friends, led by an energetic neighbor nam^d Bastelica, 
protected her and her family, and surrounded by a 
number of men armed with carbines they were con- 
ducted to a place of safety. Letitia led little Pauline 
by the hand; Pauline, who afterwards became the wife 
of General Leclerc; Elisa, the Demoiselle of Saint-Cyr, 
who had just left the quiet and calm of an educational 
institute, to fall in with such an adventure as this, went 
with her uncle, the Abbe Fesch and had already suc- 
ceeded' in getting out of reach of their enemies; the 
young Louis ran along at the head of the column, some- 
times being carried by the men and sometimes insisting 
upon struggling beneath the weight of one of the guns; 
little Jerome was carried in the arms of Savaria, the 
devoted servant. 

Thus they followed their road, looking carefully 
about that they might not be surprised and hoping to 
gain a safe refuge before the Paolists could overtake 
them. The undergrowth, the thorns they' encountered 
in their journey, tore their clothes and scratched their 
hands and faces until all the children were in tears. 

After a sleepless and fatiguing night, the refugees 
reached a rapid torrent where it was impossible for them 
to wade across. Happily they succeeded in borrowing 
a horse near by, and the women and children were car- 
ried over on his back and with repeated trips. At the 
moment they had reached the opposite shore a troop of 
Paolists, who had been sent in pursuit of the Bonapartes, 
galloped down the road they had just left. 

Concealing themselves in the brush, Madame Letitia, 
suppressing in some way the cries of anguish that had 
been bursting forth from Pauline, the horse seeming to 


92 


appreciate the danger, remained immovable, the pur- 
suers, although listening intently for some time, failed 
to detect the presence of those they sought. 

Finally, after many hardships, they rejoined Napo- 
leon who had secured a small vessel belonging to the 
French Navy, and in it they crossed the gulf and landed 
on the shores of France. 

But before they succeeded in reaching the other 
side, the Paolists, who had been informed by a coun- 
tryman of the escape of the. family, set after the 
fleeing people and when they got sufficiently near began 
a sharp firing of muskets which frightened Letitia very 
greatly and would doubtless have wounded some of the 
children had they not been quickly placed under the 
shelter of the decks. 

Being unwilling to occupy the attention of the enemy 
in this manner without making some response, Napo- 
leon brought to light a dismantled cannon that had been 
on board the vessel for many years, and finding powder 
in the storeroom, he caused the cannon to be placed in 
position and loading it to the muzzle with all sorts of 
deadly things he blazed away at the pursuers, and so 
severely wounded ten of them that they dropped the 
chase. The family and its chief were saved. 

“ Bravo, Bonaparte ! ” shouted Catharine, clapping 
her hands together when the major-aide had ceased 
speaking. “ Those Corsican cowards ! If I had been 
there with our men, eh, Lefebvre?” 

“Bonaparte was sufficient,” answered Lefebvre; “he’s 
a very good artilleryman.” 

“ And a good Frenchman, ’’added Beaurepaire. “He 
would not let an enemy of his country live ! No one will 
ever see Bonaparte die on an island, prisoner of the 
English. His destiny is higher than that. But thanks 
for your story, and when we have delivered Verdun from 
its besiegers, I shall write to Bonaparte and congratu- 
late him.” 

The commander rose to leave; he considered that the 
rest his men had enjoyed was sufficient, and there being 
no suspicion in Verdun of his approach he decided to 
proceed at once and gave the order to prepare to break 
camp. He wished to be moving within the next two 
hours and this would bring him to Verdun a little be- 
fore night. The men, having eaten their soup and 
cleaned their arms, fell into their ranks and the column 
was quickly formed. The commander, while this was 


93 


going on, turned his steps towards the wagon which was 
the headquarters of Catharine, and there making a sign 
to her that he wished to speak, they stepped aside in 
the shadow of a tree and talked earnestly for some 
moments. The voice of the commander was low, so that 
it might not be heard by any but his companion, and 
he gave her his instructions which she received with the 
most marked evidences of surprise. 

When he had finished the cantiniere replied simply: 

“I understand, commander, and when shall I leave 
Jouy-en- Argonne, and when I have reached Verdun what 
shall I do ? ” 

“ If the city is quiet, wait for us until we come to you, 
but if the enemy has made any movement” 

“Very well, commander ! I will put on my ordinary 
dress and I hope you will be satisfied with what I do.” 

She went to Lefebvre and told him she-was going to 
leave the regiment on a mission, which the commander 
had entrusted to her. Lefebvre felt some uneasiness at 
the errand and asked his wife to tell him what the pur- 
pose of her going was. 

“ Franpois,” his wife made answer, “I shall find you 
again at Verdun. It is the order of the commander. 
Take good care of Henriot. That Violette, it is the 
name of the young man whom I have left in charge of 
the canteen, must take care when he goes down the hill, 
the horse, you know, is not very sure-footed, so you must 
see he holds on to the reins.” 

“ They are going now ! But Catharine, do be prudent. 
Suppose some of those Prussian soldiers that are travel- 
ing around the country should take you prisoner.” 

“ You’re a goose ! Don’t you suppose that I have got 
under ,my skirts two good pistols to protect myself 
with ! ” Catharine replied gaily. 

And lifting up her dress, she showed to her husband 
the handles of two pistols that were stuck through the 
belt containing her money. 

The volunteers, on a sign from Beaurepaire, took 
up their position and continued on their route. Catha- 
rine bravely darted into the woods, and clambering 
down the gorge, she entered the little valley at the foot 
of which was the pretty village of Jouy-en-Argonne. 

She had just reached the first buildings when she heard 
above her through the woods and over the fields the 
stirring strains of the song that the volunteeis had kept 
up on their long march. 


94 


XVI. 

THE DESERTED ONE. 

Hermione de Beaurepaire was ever to be found in 
the great oratory of the pretentious house of Blecourt, 
at Verdun. The oratory had been created from the 
grand banquet hall of the chateau under the inspiration 
of Hermione’s aunt, a rather narrow-minded female 
known throughout the district for her conservative 
views. Two prie-Dieu and a small improvised altar on 
which was a Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus in her 
arms and dressed in a blue robe and wearing a crown 
of gilded wood, constituted the ornamentation of the 
salon together with a pair of candelabra and two vases 
of flowers. The pious aunt, Madame de Blecourt, in- 
stalled Hermione in this apartment where she might 
continue her preparations for the religious life for 
which she had been intended, and purposed adopt- 
ing as soon as her mind had been brought to a proper 
appreciation of its humility. 

When Baron Lowendaal stepped through the door 
of the oratory, Mademoiselle de Beaurepaire, suppressing 
her surprise though tempted to cry aloud, stood trem- 
bling with indecision, looking intently towards her 
visitor, hesitating, timid, awaiting a word, a gesture, a 
move of his lips, a call from his heart. 

The baron stood silent, evidently embarrassed, his 
mouth tightly closed not daring to speak. 

‘‘Ah, it is you, monsieur,” said the young girl in a 
trembling voice, “ I did not expect to see you here in 
this place.” 

“ How is the child ? Well, I suppose ? ” 

“Your child is well, she is almost three years old now, 
and I would to God she had never been born,” and her 
eyes filled with tears. 

“Now don’t cry, don’t make me feel any worse than 
I do,” the baron said, without losing his air of calm 
indifference. “You see, Hermione, it is necessary for us 
to talk seriously, and your tears and sobs will attract 
attention, the whole house is already alert with my com- 
ing, so you will kindly tell the people here that I called 
on a matter of great importance to you.” 

Hermione threw back her head, and with an imperious 
gesture she replied: 


‘‘When I gave myself to you, monsieur, it was my 
heart alone that spoke, but to-day my reason has re- 
turned to me and it dictates my conduct, the hours of 
folly during which I reclined in your arms are past, I 
am no longer inspired by love, the flame of another time 
is extinct in me; in my existence now I find that senti- 
ment to be nothing but cinders. But I have a child, 
your daughter Alice, for her I want to live, for her I 
must respect appearances and the opinion of the world.” 

“You are right, the world is unreasonable, my dear 
Hermione, towards such little adventures as those of 
ours. But, what do you want ? As you say, we have 
been foolish, but it is in the natural order of things ! 
We cannot rest all our lives under the shadow of a 
mistake.” 

And the baron made a gesture suggestive of cynical 
disregard. 

“ Monsieur le Baron, I have no further affection for 
you,” she said. 

“ Truly ! a most unhappy avowal for me to hear”-^ — 

“Cease your sarcasm; I know full well that you do 
not care for me either. Have you ever cared for me ? 
For you I felt the distraction of the moment, my heart 
was touched, my sentiments were appealed to, I found 
satisfaction in your society and I am forced to retire to 
the solitude of such hours as these in a retreat far from 
all that is pleasant. You came here solely for your busi- 
ness; you have lived the life of a gentleman, of a soldier, 
with all their pleasures and their dissipations; you have 
mingled with a brilliant court, lived at the Trianon, been 
a friend of Prince de Rohan and of the Comte de Nar- 
bonne, you have forgotten me here in this spot, lonely, 
sad, pensive.” 

“ Hermione, you are simply charming ! you were al- 
ways beautiful and always attractive, but at this moment 
you are doubly so, you have a piquancy, an audacity 
that is simply irresistible.” 

“ I have lost all that now.” 

“ I protest, it. is not so,” the baron exclaimed, gal- 
lantly. 

“ Don’t lie to me, I am nothing more in your eyes. 
You have heard me; I said that I have loved you, but 
to-day I am indifferent to you.” 

The baron muttered beneath his breath, “ It hasn’t 
been so difficult as I expected. The break is accom- 
plished without trouble, without many tears, without 


any reproaches. It is perfect.”- Turning to Hermiond, 
the baron tenderly attempted to take her hand in his, 
and said: 

“You will stay here with your good friends, won’t you ?” 

The young woman, totally ignoring the hand that 
Lowendaal extended to her, looked him steadily in 
the eyes while an involuntary trembling of her lips 
indicated the scorn she felt towards her betrayer. 

“ Excuse me,” she said, in her severest tone, “ I have 
told you to end this subject of affection; I propose 
entering a convent, and I shall find there the content-' 
ment that a cloister, that noble and dignified asylum, 
offers to women like myself, who have a good name but 
no fortune. I await only the hour when I can take my 
vows. You see, I have no regrets for this world, I feel 
no pain at leaving it; I have envied those among my 
associates who have been enabled, by their wealth, to 
marry honest men and to live the lives that bring 
joy to their heart, devoted to their husbands and their 
children; but this happiness is not offered to me, and I 
am resigned. Pardon me, monsieur, in disturbing you 
with these unpleasant thoughts, but it is when my lone- 
liness seems complete and when I see the extent of the 
sacrifice in my youth, in my desires, in my dreams, it is 
then that you appear before me. Have I a conscience ? 

I do not know; I am not indulging in any recrimina- 
tions; I am seeking no excuse for my fault, but now, 
at this moment, between us two, permit me to ask you 
.one question.” 

“ Speak. Ask me ten, twenty questions. What do 
you fear, of what are you in doubt ? ” 

“ I fear nothing ! ” said Hermione, with a trace of 
sadness; “and I have unhappily lost the right to doubt. 
Monsieur le Baron, you promised to make me your 
wife. Have you come here to-day to fulfill that 
promise ? ” 

“ The devil, this is unpleasant ! ” thought the baron 
to himself, and with a sigh that failed to cpnceal a 
grimace, he murmured: 

“ Your suggestion charms me — I have made the avowal 
to you^and I am a little embarrassed. Most certainly I 
have remembered all that has gone in the past. In our 
moments of folly, as you yourself call them, I engaged 
myself to you and I pray you to believe that my senti- 
ments for you are and shall always be respectful, ardent, 
sincere ” — — 


97 


“ But yet you refuse ? ” 

“ I did not say that ! ” 

“ Then, you consent? I have said to you that I have 
no more doubt, no more fear. I have told you that I 
hope we will walk side by side from this place and from 
this time. I want your reply, I await it ! ” 

My God, my dear Hermione, you have taken me by 
surprise. I did not come to Verdun entirely to be mar- 
ried; there are grave affairs, interests of the very highest 
importance that necessitate my presence here, and the 
moment would be badly chosen to occupy it with 
matrimonial joys.” 

“ Don't speak of joys between us. Then, I under- 
stand, you refuse ? ” 

“ No, I only ask you for a little delay. Wait for a 
time in peace, it will not be long ” 

“You believe it, you believe you can deliver me a 
prisoner to the enemy, for you hope that the schemes of 
the traitors will prevail and that Verdun cannot be 
defended?" 

“ I believe defense is impossible. It cannot be that 
our workingmen, our little countrymen, our laborers 
and our clerks will be capable of resisting the armies 
of the Emperor and the King ! " 

“ Don't insult the brave men who are fighting like 
heroes ! " Hermione exclaimed, energetically. 

“ I am insulting no one, I only want you to consider 
that this city is not a garrison." 

“ It will be very soon ! " Hermione muttered. 

“ What is that you say ? ” the baron shouted with 
consternation. 

“ I said — stop ! listen ! " 

And Hermione made a sign to the baron to put his 
ear against the closed window that he might hear the 
confused sound, the cries, the shouts, the noise of 
tramping feet, the roll of the drums, the applause of 
the people. 

The baron’s face became ghastly. 

“ What does this uproar mean ? " he asked. 9 Probably 
some riot, the people have thrown open the gates and 
have come to their senses not to withstand a siege." 

“No, monsieur, this uproar has another meaning! 
Once more you have the opportunity, will you carry out 
your promise and give t(f our child, to your little Alice, 
the name, the rank, the fortune that belongs to her? " 

“ I have told you, madam, that for the moment it is 


98 


impossible. I can come to no other decision. Wait ! 
I have some very serious matters to conclude here, have 
a little patience; give me time. When the rioters are 
conquered and when His Majesty is restored to the 
Tuileries, when the revolution is put down, then I will 
come to you, then I will decide.” 

“Take care, monsieur! I am a woman, but I have 
taken my oath for vengance! ” 

“ What, menaces ? I will go then,” said the baron with 
a sarcastic smile, “I don’t like this sort of thing, yet it 
is less dangerous than your tears ! ” 

“ Once more, monsieur, I warn you to be careful, you 
believe me to be feeble, defenseless, without means of 
resentment. You will find it is otherwise! ” 

“ And I tell you again, madame, that I refuse to be 
intimidated.” 

“ Do you hear that noise, that tumult? Do you know 
it is the sound of drums that is approaching?” 

“ It is singular! Is it possible the Prussians are already 
in the city?” said the baron, adding under his breath, 
they have come in good time, these good friends, our 
enemies; they will cut short this scene and give me a good 
excuse to get away from this threatening female.” 

“ They are not the Prussians,” Hermione exclaimed 
with triumph, “they are the patriots who have come to 
the relief of Verdun.” 

“The reinforcements that were expected! It is im- 
possible! Lafayette is engaged with the Austrians; 
Dumouriez is at the camp of Maulde; Dillon has been 
purchased by the Allies. It is impossible that these 
should be reinforcements ! ” 

“ Perhaps you would like to see ! ” saying which Her- 
mione threw open the door of her oratory at the 
moment a woman was coming into the building, lead- 
ing two little children by the hand. 

“ Enter, madame, let me make you acquainted with 
Monsieur Baron de Lowendaal, who wishes to know 
what this noise of drums in the city means,” said Her- 
mione. 



THE WOMAN WAS VOUNG AND HER FACE WAS PLEASING, 







99 


XVII. 

THE ARRIVAL OF THE VOLUNTEERS. 

The woman was young and her face was pleasing. 
She made a military salute and she looked with stolid 
indifference at the baron. 

“ I am Catharine Lefebvre, cantiniere of the Thir- 
teenth Regiment, at your service! You wish to know the 
meaning of this noise? Very well, it is the battalion 
from Mayenne-et-Loire that is just now entering the 
city, accompanied by a detachment of the Thirteenth, 
commanded by my husband, Fran9ois Lefebvre. Well, 
mademoiselle, this is a great surprise for them all, 
isn’t it ? ” 

The baron growled out in a surly and disappointed 
way: 

“The battalion from Mayenne-et-Loire! What is it 
doing here ? ” 

“ Why did we come here ? ” said Catharine, “ why, we 
came to fight the Prussians, to reassure the patriots, to 
slap the aristocrats.” 

“Well said, madame.!” replied Hermione, “ but tell 
me what is the name of the commander of these volun- 
teers of Mayenne-et-Loire, Monsieur le Baron would be 
pleased to hear it.” 

“ We are under the command of the brave Beaure- 
paire.” 

“ Beaurepaire! ” the baron echoed with terror. 

“ Yes; my brother, who one hour before he entered 
the city sent this brave woman to me, to tell me of his 
approach and to reassure me,” Hermione replied, while 
her pale face became radiant with joy. 

“ They say they will put you out, my little father ! ” 
said Catharine, slapping the discomforted baron famil- 
iarly on his shoulder. “You are not a patriot, I see, 
but you will be given a pension; the aristocrats who 
like to talk of capitulation, I don’t suppose will be very 
glad to see us.” 

“ How many volunteers are there ? ” demanded the 
baron. 

“ Four hundred, and, besides, there is the company of 
my husband, that makes in all five hundred who have 
come to the relief of the city.” 

The face of the baron recovered its calm expression. 


\ 

— ICO ' 

“ Five hundred! that isn’t as bad as I feared. Five hun- 
dred cannot hold the city, especially if the population 
is working and crying for surrender. The worst of it is 
that this fellow Beaurepaire should be here, how can I 
avoid him.” 

Hermione meanwhile and as the baron, undecided 
^hat to do, looked about him seeking relief from 
those who were making his position more severe, had 
stepped aside to look for the two children whose voices 
guided her to the next room. Returning with a sweet 
little blonde girl in her arms, she set the child down at 
the feet of the baron, saying: 

“Here is your child, monsieur, will you not embrace 
her?” 

Lowendaal, concealing his annoyance all that was 
possible, leaned over and hurriedly kissed the little girl 
upon her forehead. The child, with that instinct which 
often seems to protect them, began to cry. With 
the first sob of the unhappy child, a responsive note 
was heard from the adjoining room, and a little boy 
wearing a liberty cap into which was fastened the 
cocarde, came running forth, and taking the hand of the 
weeping youngster in his own, he said to her: 

“Don’t cry! come with me and see all the nice things 
I have and then we can fire off the cannon, too. Boom! 
Boom! Its awfully funny to fire off the cannon! ” 

Catharine playfully tweaked the boy’s ear and said 
with a feeling of pride: 

“ This is my little Henriot, a future sergeant, and I 
am educating him until my husband can get him into 
the army to defend our republic! He will make a great 
soldier, my little Henriot.” 

Hermione pressed the hand of the cantiniere softly as 
she turned to the baron: 

“ This excellent woman went with the battalion to the 
village of Jouy-en-Argonne; the commander, de Beau- 
repaire, sent her to the house in the village where she 
found the infant, as the commander had explained 
she would. Then she brought the child to me before the 
volunteers appeared, and left her here that her unhappy 
and abandoned mother might have the protection the 
presence of helpless innocence always affords. That is 
how your little girl came here, monsieur! ” 

“ Then,” whined Lowendaal, “ the commander, Beau- 
repaire, knows ” 

“He knows all,” Hermione interrupted, “you can 


lOI 


readily believe it was a sad confession for me to make.” 

“And your brother is amiable about it?” with which 
words the baron tried to appear indifferent and calm. 

“ My brother has pardoned me; he has hastened here 
to my help, to deliver me. The volunteers from Mayenne 
are led by him, and they will march victoriously through 
the ranks of our enemies ! ” 

“ Ah, what stops we made, my children,” and Catha- 
rine’s eyes glistened at the remembrance. “ We were all 
nervous for fear we would be too late to save this 
beautiful city of Verdun — but Commander Beaurepaire 
has wings to his talons ! ” 

Again the sound of drums came through the open 
door, and it grew in volume with every moment and it 
came nearer and nearer to the house where Catharine 
had preceded it. Then there were sounds of joy as though 
the entire city were en fete^ and already the triumphal 
procession had crossed the Meuse and' was approaching 
with the steady swing of trained troops.' 

“ I think I must go,” said the baron, “ I can see them 
from my hotel.” 

“And I want to see my husband,” continued Catha- 
rine. “ Here, you young conscript, go ! march ! ” and 
with the words she pushed Henriot into the street, but 
the boy resisted, and having the little girl’s dress tightly 
grasped in his hand he positively refused to go forth 
without her. 

“ See there, the little flirt is already attached to half 
a dozen girls. Ah ! he is promising, the young rascal.” 

“ Madame,” Hermione exclaimed with emotion. 
“Never can I forget that which you have done for me; 
say to my brother that I have blessed you and will await 
him here.” 

Raising little Henriot in her arms, Catharine started 
away to join her companions and the Thirteenth. Her- 
mione made a formal salute to the baron and withdrew 
to her own room with the little girl, whom she covered 
with caresses. 

Lowendaal was pensive as he walked back to the dis- 
tant hotel. 

“ If the capitulation can be brought around, then I 
will not have to meet Beaurepaire. But, if not, he will 
certainly compel me to marry his sister.” 

And but little satisfied with the way events were hap- 
pening, the baron entered the City Hall, where the not- 
ables of the city were already assernbled ander the di- 


102 


rection of the president of the Directory, Ternaux, and 
of the procureiir-syndic, Gossin, both traitors, whose 
names are pilloried in history. 

XVIII. 

THE ENVOY FROM BRUNSWICK. 

In the grand salon at the Hotel de Ville of Verdun, 
under the light of the flaming flambeaux, the members 
for the district and the other notables were assembled, 
the commander of the engineers, Bellemond, governor 
of the place, being conspicuous in the company. Presi- 
dentTernaux opened the proceedings and the procureur- 
syndic, Gossin, explained the situation. 

The Duke of Brunswick was encamped at the very 
gates of the city. Should they throw them open and 
receive the Imperil General as a friend and a liberator, 
and should they lower their bridges and throw back 
kisses for cannon balls ? 

The disgrace had been already incurred in putting 
the question. 

Gentlemen,” said the procureur in a dolorous voice, 
“ our hearts bleed at the unhappiness that will fall over 
Verdun if it is besieged. Gentlemen, resistance is folly 
against an enemy ten times our number. Is it your will 
now to receive an envoy on a conciliatory mission from 
the duke ? ” 

Yes, we will receive him,” shouted several. 

Now, gentlemen,” the president resumed, “ I will 
introduce the envoy at once.” 

There was a movement as of curiosity and expecta- 
tion, all eyes were turned towards the door of the presi- 
dent’s apartment, and those who spoke did so in whis- 
pers, seeming to feel as though the shame of such a deed 
should only be murmured and not tittered loud enough 
to be heard through the halls of the building. Presently 
the door opened, giving entrance to a young man, 
clothed in a civil costume, his face as pale as though 
from a recent illness and his arm carried in a sling. 

“ M. le Comte de Neipperg, aide-de-camp to General 
Clerfayt, commander-in-chief of the Austrian Army,” 
the president announced in his introduction. 

It was none other than the young Austrian who had 
been saved by Catharine Sans-Gene on the morning of 
the loth of August. His wound had healed beneath tho 


103 


womanly care of the gentle Catharine, and then he had 
been enabled to escape from Paris and reach the quarters 
of the Austrian commander. 

Suffering still from the musket shots that had struck 
him, he volunteered to perform this duty on the night 
of the conference. The thought of Blanche de Lave- 
line was a deeper and more painful wound than that of 
the bullet, and in seeing his child, his little Henriot, 
exposed to all the perils of an unacknowledged birth, 
to the mercies of Lowendaal and to the possibility of 
losing Blanche through a marriage that would separate 
them for ever, made him sad indeed. The torture was 
cruel and killing, and, in his wish to forget the past, he 
hailed with joy an opportunity to enter the army and 
find in war the forgetfulness that would give him 
relief. General Clerfayt, who appreciated the brave 
and diplomatic qualities of Neipperg, had attached him 
to his staff, and as he was a perfect master of the French 
language the general had selected him for this impor- 
tant mission of carrying to the notables and authorities 
of Verdun the proposition for capitulation. 

After saluting the assembly with the grace and ele- 
gance that distinguished him, the comte made known 
the terms upon which the Duke of Brunswick was dis- 
posed to treat; they consisted of a demand that the 
citadel and the city should be evacuated and surrendered 
within twenty-four hours-, and the penalty of refusal to 
accept this stipulation was the bombardment of Verdun 
and the sacrifice of the inhabitants to the fury of the 
victorious invaders. 

In the presence of the profound stupor the utterance 
of these threats produced, the savagery of the condi- 
tions was for a moment disregarded. It would seem 
that such a menace, haughty and insulting as it was, 
would have aroused feelings of resentment and revolt in 
the treacherous ‘hearts of the rich bourgeois and royal- 
ists who crowded the meeting, and who had connived 
at the traitorous proposition to betray the city. But 
not a voice was raised, none dared to make one weak 
objection that would call down the resentment of the 
Germans upon the defenseless Verdun. 

Neipperg stood unmoved, silent, upon the platform 
his eyes cast to the ground, his ears alert to the first 
word that would terminate his mission. Within him- 
self he felt nothing but contempt for these cowardly 
citizens, who preferred the disgrace and surrender of 


their country to accepting the risk of resistance, and in- 
curring the danger of having their buildings destroyed. 
As he stood there, his mind went back to those grand 
Frenchmen of the loth of August against whom he had 
fought, and who had rushed with such recklessness of 
life against the chateau of the Tuileries, bristling with 
bayonets and throwing out sheets of lead at every 
assault. He had admiration for those patriots, an 
admiration heightened by his wound ; he was a true 
soldier, and the heart of a soldier is great enough to 
take in the valor of an enemy with whom he has battled. 
But the skin of these bourgeois was thick, and their 
silence was shameless. He felt as though he must 
escape, as though he must gain the open air where he 
could breathe, where he could shake off the oppressive 
atmosphere of treachery, where his eyes should not look 
upon a spectacle so revolting to his honor and to his 
noble soul. 

Comte de Neipperg with difficulty controlled his 
voice as he said coldly and with an unconcealed sheei : 
“ Gentlemen, you have heard the communication from 
the commander-in-chief, what reply do you wish me to 
convey to the Duke of Brunswick ?” 

A voice broke the deep silence: 

Don’t you think, gentlemen, that while you may 
recognize the truth of the unhappy sentiment expresses I 
by the Duke of Brunswick, that you might reasonably 
delay your response, and perhaps permit the artilleiy 
of M. le Due to do your city the honor of presenting it 
with a few bombs ? ” 

At the first word Neipperg started from his attitude 
of indifferent contempt, the blood rushed to his face, his 
eyes lighted with a fierce glare and looked full into 
the repellant countenance of his rival, Lowendaal. He 
made a movement as though he would spring at the 
throat of the baron; he restrained himself with the 
thought that he was an ambassador, that he had a mis- 
sion to perform, that he was no longer a prfvate indi- 
vidual in a private capacity. This thought ran through 
his mind and held his hand. 

And it was followed by another, by a more distressing 
thought: If the baron were in Verdun, was not Blanche 
de Laveline also here ? 

But how could he discover her? How could he see 
her? How could he talk with her. He could only hope 
that the baron might in some manner disclose the refuge 


bf Blanche. If this failed, then he would search for her, 
and have. others search for her, and find her. 

A murmur went up from the crov/d at the words of 
Lowendaal. 

“Why does he mix up in it, this .farmer ? “ said the 
bourgeois among themselves. “ Has he houses, and 
a home, and merchandise in the city ? Does he support 
the government here ? We know that it is impossible to 
resist; the commander of the engineers has told us so; 
then wl^y should we massacre all our people and what 
reason is there that we should expose ourselves to this 
artillery fire ? ” 

“ Our population is a sensible one, and dreads the 
horrors of a siege,” said the president, in answering the 
proposition just made by the baron; “ the advice we have 
just heard from M. le Marquis de Lowendaal would do 
very well for the canaille, but all those who have no 
possessions have already deserted the city; they have 
taken refuge at Thionville, they have found there the 
safety which they sought; they have escaped the fire 
and we hope they will never return to Verdun. Gentle- 
men, shall we take advantage of their example, or shall 
we invite the cannonade ?” 

“ No ! No ! No bombardment ! Agree to the con- 
ditions! ” came from twenty directions. 

And, as if to make the pressure stronger, the delegates 
crowded about the president, grasping pens or pencils 
in their hands, pressing forward to affix their signature 
to th^agreement for capitulation. 

Neipperg looked on in silence at this panic that stam- 
peded the representatives of a great people and urged 
them to such disgraceful resources. 

The president of the assembly held the hesitating pen 
between his trembling fingers, his signature would seal 
the nefarious bargain, he hesitated not from loyalty, 
but from shame, he had overcome one as he long 
since had overcome the other and had made the first 
stroke upon the paper when a fierce discharge of fire- 
arms shook the windows of the chamber and startled 
the entire assembly to its feet. The roll of drums sent 
its inspiring sound through the open doors, and there 
burst forth over and above the clamoring shouts in the 
turbulent streets, the inspiring strains of the Carmag- 
nole. 


io6 


XIX. 

THE OATH OF BEAUREPAIRE. 

The city was awake with an indescribable enthusiasm; 
the windows of the houses were thrown open and 
thronged with the excited populace; the city was illumi- 
nated as if for a f^te. On the public squares great 
torches shot their flames towards heaven and the towns- 
women, alone, or with their husbands or lovers, or lead- 
ing their children by the hands, crowded the streets 
and gathered in groups around the crackling bonfires, 
whose flickering light gave them a fantastic weirdness. 

It was the volunteers from Mayenne-et-Loire who had 
shouted out the patriotic words of the “ Ca ira,” who 
had by that means given the joyous signal to the citizens 
that they had come to their relief. 

There were comparatively few men in the mass of 
people that greeted the new-comers; they held away at 
a distance and looked upon this martial tumult, while 
they did not aid it by their participation. 

The procureur-syndic called the attention of the presi- 
dent to this peculiarity. 

“ Here comes these damned volunteers with their up- 
roar ! ” he remarked. 

To which M. Gossin answered with a surly shrug of 
his shoulders: 

‘‘ Wait awhile, the Duke of Brunswick will rid us- of 
them shortly.” 

After which he added: 

If these devils are let loose, we will certainly be bom- 
barded ! ” 

The words had no sooner left his lips than a loud 
hissing was heard in the air, then a dull roar as of a 
distant cannon and there came, as if from the sky, a 
lightning trail all blood red, cutting through space with 
the fury of a fiend; the windows of the City Hall rattled; 
a sudden blast like a fearful wind blew across the faces 
of the two traitors and before their eyes could follow 
the red shaft a thud that shook the ground was heard, 
and a building standing on the corner opposite the 
City Hall crumbled and slid down into the street. 

** God ! I told you so ! The Prussians are firing upon 
us!” screamed the procureur-syndic, appalled by the 


terrible effect of the shot. “ This is the bombardment 
you wanted; are you well satisfied, baron?” 

The procureur turned, thinking Lowendaal was behind 
him, but that cautious and diplomatic farmer had dis- 
appeared. Impatient with anxiety, wishing to know 
the whereabouts of Blanche and supposing that Lowen^ 
daal would seek her directly he left the assembly, 
Neipperg was also disappearing upon the trail of the 
farmer. 

“I have nothing more to do here, gentlemen,” the 
comte said hastily, as he turned away, “ the cannon has 
spoken; my mission is at an end; I shall return to my 
commander.” 

' ‘‘Monsieur le Comte,” the president supplicated, “ do 
not leave us; remain here, it is important; all can be ex- 
plained, all can be arranged ” 

“ I do not see how ! ” rejoined Neipperg, “ the cannon 
on your ramparts gives answer to our overtures; the 
drum beats in your streets and even now in your city 
hall they find men to protect your walls and serve at 
your guns ” 

He was interrupted by a long roll of drums on the 
staircase of the City Hall, and following it a confused 
sound of hurrying footsteps, then came the clash of gun 
stocks against the pavement, as the troops rested on 
their arms. 

“ They dare to come here ! ” shrieked the procureur- 
syndic in his exasperation, “ monsieur, commander, go 
quickly; give an order at once to seize those drummers 
and that the men shall return to the barracks we have 
provided for them,” and the magistrate addressed M. 
Bellemond, chief of the engineers and the artillery. 

“At once. Monsieur le Procureur,” responded the 
cowardly officer. “ the order shall be given. In a quarter 
of an hour Verdun shall be quiet.” 

“ In a quarter of an hour Verdun will be in flames, 
and we shall be singing the ‘ Marseillaise ’ to the music 
of these shells,” shouted a powerful voice behind them. 

The door'was forced open by a blow and Beaurepaire, 
accompanied by Lefebvre and having in his train the 
soldiers of the Thirteenth and the volunteers from 
Mayenne-et-Loire, appeared before the affrighted offi- 
cials looking as threatening as the god of war. The 
president, disconcerted by the timely interruption, en- 
deavored to exert what he believed to be his authority: 

“ Who has authorized you, commander, to come here 


and disturb the deliberations of this municipality and of 
the citizens who have come together in council ? " 

I am informed,” replied Beaurepaire, “ that you are 
here mixed up in an infamous treason, and that you 
talk of surrendering the city. Is it so, citizens ? 
Answer ! ” 

“We have not yet made known the resolution of the 
authorities, commander, therefore will you and your men 
retire and cease this firing that you have begun without 
having received any notice from the council for defense! ” 
the president said severely. 

Beaurepaire reflected a moment, and then, with a re- 
spectful manner and in a quiet voice, he said: 

“Gentlemen, it is true, I have not awaited instructions 
from your council before firing on the Prussians, who 
have already approached the gates and are prepared 
to enter at the first signal, a signal, gentlemen, I am satis- 
fied will be given by some one inside the city. I have 
barricaded the gates; my brave friend, Lefebvre, who is 
there, has placed his men on both sides of each gate 
and the enemy is stopped — and in good time too, for 
they had come near enough to see what we are doing on 
the walls, but I sent them a few bullets that warned 
them we had no wish for their visits. I have arrived in 
season with my volunteers, and I admit that I did 
not give a thought to waiting for the advice of the coun- 
cil for defense ! ” 

“ And you have done wrong, commander,” said the 
chief of engineers. 

Beaurepaire, removing his hat and looking into the 
eyes of Bellemond, rejoined: 

“ Comrade, I will reply for my conduct before the 
representatives of the people and for my delay in coming 
here; I respect the commune of Verdun and its munici- 
pal officers; I hope they are patriots, and I am ready to 
show deference to them; I will take their orders for all 
that concerns the interior service of the city and the 
police regulations, but as for that which concerns my 
action as a soldier and the manner in which I shall 
fire shells at the Prussians, you will permit me, com- 
rade, to do as I consider proper. Harken to what I 
say ! I am here, your equal in rank, and we should stand 
together and in accord repulse the enemy and save the 
people.” 

The energetic and patriotic words, spoken in no hesi- 
tating manner, stirred the blood of the chief of engi- 


neers, who was in reality a man of spirit and bravery 
but who had been influenced and his sentiments domi- 
nated by the president and the procureur-syndic, and 
the flush of an awakening patriotism mantled his 
cheeks. 

“ But, you should take the opinion of the council be- 
fore giving battle ! ” he ventured. 

“When the enemy is at the gates and the natural de- 
fenders of the city hesitate, the council for defense, if it 
were then consulted would order the commander to 
barricade the roadB, to place sharpshooters on the 
walls, to bring their cannon to bear upon the approach- 
ing enemy and to fire into their midst. It is that which 
I have done, comrade, just as though I had been given 
the time to consult the council where you preside. And 
in reality would I have received any other orders ? Could 
I as commander have done anything else? All you can 
reproach me with is that, possibly^ I did not begin firing 
soon enough, — but all my munitions had not yet ar- 
rived; they are here now ! Stop, there they go ! ” 

His words were drowned by the terrific thunder of 
cannon in the direction of Porte Saint Victor. 

The president and the procureur-syndic shuddered as 
the sound broke upon their ears; they shuddered not 
from fear but with the knowledge that a rain of shells 
would follow and their property might be destroyed. 

“ He is a brave man ! ” Comte de Neipperg said to 
himself, as he looked into the radiant face of Beaurepaire, 
for his intention to follow Lowendaal had been changed 
by the sudden appearance of the volunteers, and he had 
remained a silent witness to the interview. Then, step- 
ping forward and saluting the commander, he said in 
his courtly way: 

“Commander, I do not think you should remain igno- 
rant of who I am; I am Comte de Neipperg, aide-de-camp 
to General Clerfayt ” 

“You are in civilian’s dress! ” Beaurepaire interrupted 
defiantly. 

“ I did not come here in my official capacity, com- 
mander, but simply to lay before the municipality of 
Verdun and the counsel for defense a note from my 
chief.” 

“ A summons to surrender the city, no doubt ? ” 

“ You have said it ! ” 

“ And what have these men here replied ?” 

Beaurepaire looked savagely at the officials, while 


no 


they, abashed by the glance of his honest eyes and the 
ring of his noble words, turned their heads from him. 

Gossin, the procureur-syndic, whispered in the ear of 
the president: * 

“ If this envoy from the Duke of Brunswick tells all, 
this blackguard Beaurepaire is quite capable of having 
us all shot by these brigands of his, my poor M. 
Ternaux.” 

“ I fear it, my poor M. Gossin,” the president an- 
swered, sadly. 

But Neipperg, recognizing the situation, and having 
no desire to expose the cowardice for which he could 
with difficulty suppress his contempt, contented himself 
with saying simply: 

“ I had not yet time to receive the’ decision of the 
gentlemen. You yourself have now given me a response- 
for my chief.” 

Then, monsieur, your mission is concluded. Will 
you permit me the honor of conducting you myself to* 
the outposts?” Beaurepaire said, with extreme polite- 
ness. 

“ I am at your orders, commander.” 

They left the salon, and, as Beaurepaire reached the 
door, he turned for the last time towards the president 
and procureur, saying: 

“Gentlemen of the commune, I have promised my 
men to bury myself with them beneath the falling walls 
of Verdun rather than surrender the city. I hope you 
will indorse my promise.” 

“ But, commander, if the city wishes to surrender, if ■ 
the inhabitants refuse to permit this bombardment, 
what shall you do ? Shall you, despite the protests of 
the people, continue this murderous fire? What shall 
you do ? We await your response ! ” said the president, 
the tears of rage and terror starting from his eyes. 

Beaurepaire reflected a moment and then said: 

“ If you force me to surrender the city, gentlemen, I 
will — rather than submit to the dishonor and disgrace 
and treason of breaking my oath — I will cut my throat. 

I have come here to defend Verdun to the death ! ” 

Carried away by the sincerity of his loyalty and filled 
with resentment and disgust at the ignorant weakness 
of the officials, he strode back into the salon, and, 
bringing his fist down upon the table with a resounding 
blow, he repeated with all the earnestness pf his manly 
courage: 


HI 


“ Do you hear, gentlemen, to the death ! ” 

And then turning abruptly from them, he disappeared 
through the -door! The officials, paralyzed by the energy 
of the commander, terrified by his unquestionable integ- 
rity and incorruptible character, remained silent. 

“ If he were killed,” said a deep voice behind them,, 

that would, indeed, be an advantage to you, and be au 
advantage to us all,” was in the voice of Lowendaal,, 
and the few whom he addressed welcomed him gladly. 

“The bombardment was terrible,” said another voice;; 
“ the volunteers were upon the walls fighting like furies 
And then the fantastic evolutions of the Thirteenth. 
They have with them a sort of female devil, the wife of 
Captain Lefebvre, who is a cantiniere, and she acts as. 
though she were crazy; she carries the ammunition her- 
self and served a cannon, throwing deadly shells into 
the ranks of the Prussians. Happily, not many of the 
soldiers are like the woman, otherwise the Austrians 
would not be able to get in here.” 

“ And you have any hope of that, baron ? ” said the 
president to the new-comer. 

“ More than ever; the bombardment was necessary; I 
said so; the inhabitants had not been sufficiently 
impressed; my man, my faithful Leonard, is working 
among the laborers, they do not accept the thought of 
surrender favorably, but by to-morrow morning they 
will clamor for it.” 

“You are most excellent in restoring our confidence 
and hopes.” 

“ I tell you, Monsieur le President, they will come to 
you and make you sign the treaty of surrender by main 
force.” 

“ Heaven grant that it be so,” sighed the president, 
“ But the envoy of the Duke of Brunswick has returned 
to his chief.” 

“ It will be necessary, then, for some one to go to the 
Austrian camp, and carry to him the assurance that 
to-morrow the general will find the gates open to him.” 

“ But who can we entrust with that mission ? ” 

“Me!” 

“Ah! then we are saved ! ” cried the president, who 
in his joy embraced the baron. 


II2 


XX. 

Leonard’s mission. 

Some minutes later Lowendaal, provided with the 
terms of the surrender in duplicate with those that had 
been prepared for Comte de Neipperg, went out of the 
Hotel de Ville. He hastened with all speed to the ren- 
dezvous that he had arranged with Leonard. ^ 

The meeting-place was near by, and it was within a 
few minutes that the baron was passionately whispering 
some secret instructions in the ear of his attendant. As 
Leonard comprehended the words that were- said to 
him, he gave every evidence of the most profound sur- 
prise and glanced nervously about as though he feared 
the presence of another witness to the tale he was forced 
to hear. Twice the baron repeated his instructions, and 
even then his hearer appeared unable to appreciate their 
full meaning; and the baron, irritated by the apparent 
reluctance of the man to comprehend what was said, 
finally exclaimed in an angry voice: 

^‘Why do you hesitate? You know we can easily find 
some one else in the city to do it, and you also know 
that there >are prisons and gendarmes here, and if I 
choose to speak a certain person of my acquaintance 
might ” 

“ I know that. Monsieur le Baron,” Leonard replied in 
a sniffling tone. 

“ If you know it, then don’t forget it again! It pains 
me, Leonard, to be obliged to speak in this way to such 
a devoted servant as you have been — ever since I saved 
you from the galleys.” 

“ And now you wish to send me there ! Oh, mon- 
sieur ! ” 

“ Then you will obey ? ” 

“Yes, Monsieur le Baron, but this is a very serious 
task; this is terrible what you command of me.” 

“You exaggerate the importance of the affair, of the 
confidence it has pleased me to put in you. Great 
Heavens, Master Leonard, you have been accustomed 
to the greatest docility, to the greatest devotion. You 
are showing yourself to be ungrateful. It is a terrible 
fault, this tendency to forget the favors that have been 
done us.” 

“ Monsieur le Baron, I shall be eternally grateful to 


you,’- replied the miserable man, whom Lowendaal had 
surprised robbing his employers by means of a false key, 
“ I am ready to follow you and to go wherever it pleases 
you to lead me. But this, that you order me to do 
now, is ” 

“ Abominable, did you say ? You have some new- 
born scruples, Master Leonard ? ” 

“ I am not permitted to find anything abominable that 
Monsieur le Baron commands. I was just going to 

“ And what were you going to' say ? I am rather curi- 
ous to know your opinion.” 

“ Monsieur le Baron, the— thing— is dangerous— Oh ! 
not onty for myself, but if I should be seen and should 
be compelled to say that Monsieur le Baron had or- 
dered me ^ — 

“ In the first place, no one would believe it,” the baron 
interrupted curtly, “ and then again you will have no 
proof of any such orders which you might pretend you 
had received from me, and finally, I want to assure you, 
beyond question, that my arrangements are already 
made to take care of you and obtain your release in the 
very improbable case of their discovering you.” 

“Truly, Monsieur le Baron ? ” 

“My carriage will be in readiness near the Porte 
Neuve, on the road to Commercy. They have no 
guards on that side.” 

“ But how can I get out ? ” 

“On a mission from the council for defense. You 
will be provided with a safe conduct, and you will go 
to-morrow to the camp of the Duke of Brunswick.” 
With these words, Lowendaal handed to Leonard a 
blank pass made out by the municipal officers, and 
permitting the baron to go through the lines. Leonard 
looked at it carefully, and then in a reassured voice, he 
said: “ I will obey! ” 

“ Bear well in mind the one object of your mission, 
and do not allow the volunteers to take you. If you are 
arrested, it will be impossible for them to learn anything 
about your antecedents; they will not send you to the 
galleys; I suppose you would prefer a quick death to 
that ! ” 

Leonard shivered. 

“ I will do my best, Monsieur le Baron ! ” 

“Very well, I guess you understand. Go now and 
send me what information you can from the camp.” 


114 


I will try, Monsieur le Baron. It is an equal thing, 
escape after which you ask me to do and being caught; 
I fear that the carriage will await me at the Porte 
Neuve needlessly.” 

“ Imbecile! in a city where every part of it is excited 
by the bombardment, where the flames are raging in 
every street, surveillance is impossible. I count on you. 
Master Leonard. If you prx>ve treacherous, or if you 
come to me with some queer story of failure, you can 
rely on one thing, that my first visit shall be to the 
president and my second to the official who has charge 
of those criminals who will be the next that are sent to 
the galleys of Toulon. Adieu, Master Leonard, until 
to-morrow at daybreak.” 

Lowendaal, with a nonchalant air, strolled tranquilly, 
towards the Porte Neuve, leaving Leonard perplexed 
and meditating on the accomplishment of the mission 
he had undertaken. 

“How can I, without attracting attention, get into 
the house of Madame Bl^court ? How can I reach 
Commander Beaurepaire in the middle of the night, 
when he is without escort, disarmed, sleeping ? ” Leon- 
ard muttered to himself. 


XXI. 

THE CAMP OF THE INVADERS. 

On leaving Leonard, Lowendaal, as we have said, 
strolled across the street, murmuring beneath his breath 
and in a satisfied manner: 

“ He trembles at the task; but, pshaw, the fear of the 
galleys will be sufficient to take away all dread of this 
bully, Beaurepaire. Place a man between two alterna- 
tives, going to the galleys or simply risking his 
precious person to be seized, provided the man is 
intelligent and Leonard is certainly not a fool^ and he 
will naturally select the latter. Then he will do his best 
and won’t be caught. It will go a little against bis heart, 
and his legs may tremble, but he will go just the same. 
What are these soldiers, anyhow ? Wh^en they are sent 
to face the cannon, it is not always the love of glory 
that inspires them, it is also the fear of the bullets; this 
proves itself, because they would run away if it were not 
for the pressure of the masses. Leonard will be alone, 
he cannot go back; he comes from the camp of the 


invaders just as did Talthybios, the valiant hero, at the 
Palace of Atrides, and I hope he will have the same 
good success ! ” 

The baron, as may be gathered from the few insights 
we have had into his character, was not over-scrupulous 
in his little details whether it be in his capacity as an 
individual or as a farmer, and notwithstanding his 
polite acquaintance with literary affairs and his rather 
more than superficial knowledge of the best authors. 
He walked late into the night; he went through the 
silent quarters of the city while every now and then dis- 
tant detonations of guns fell upon his ears, and often he 
could follow with indifferent regard the luminous track 
of a hissing shell that with the rapidity of a meteor 
raced across the black heavens. 

The enemy was not bombarding the side of the city 
where the baron walked. , 

The only sound of human voices interrupting the 
sombre stillness of this quarter, was the occasional cries 
from some anxious wanderer who hailed the sentinel on 
the upper walls with an injunction to be alert. The 
baron had reached the Porte Neuve which was control- 
led by a detachment of the National Guard, whose offi- 
cer had been instructed by the procureur-syndic to per- 
mit the passage of Baron de Lowendaal at any time he 
choose to present himself, and so it was without diffi- 
culty the baron penetrated the line and soon found him- 
self on the outer side of the walls free to go where he 
would. 

Taking the road leading to the east through the dark 
country that surrounded the city, the baron soon reached 
a little wood, where he turned and a few yards 
further on came within sight of a crackling fire made 
doubly brilliant by the dense shadow of the surround- 
ings, and which marked the bivouac of the advance guard 
of the Austrian army. Making towards it with greater 
haste than he had yet displayed, Lowendaal was sud- 
denly checked by the demand, in pure French, of a 
sleepless sentry: 

“ Who goes there ? ” 

“ I must have made a mistake, these are Fjenchmen 
here ! ” 

Then he stopped, after calling back: 

‘‘A friend! An envoy from the municipality of 
Verdun.” 

Alfwas silent for a moment, and presently a black mass 


seemed to detach itself from the somberness and came 
toward him, accompanied by the clashing of swords. 
Four men, carrying a lantern, came to reconnoiter. 

After having explained his errand to the chief of this 
little group, and having demanded to be conducted to 
the commander, the baron was politely requested to take 
his place at the bivouac and there await a summons 
from headquarters. He accepted the invitation with a 
readiness that arose from the chilly atmosphere he had 
been exposed to for several hours, and he took his place 
close up to the burning fagots to restore his comfort- 
able warmth. His arrival was quickly rumored around 
the encampment, and those who had gone to sleep were 
shaken into wakefulness by their comrades that they 
might speak to the new arrival and learn what was going 
on in Verdun. The camp of the invaders was strange 
and picturesque. 

The army of Conde was composed of volunteers 
gathered together from all points of France, though 
principally from the west, and brought into service to 
battle against the army of the people, the defenders of 
the white flag to re-establish the king, and put down the 
revolution. Many of these volunteers were under but 
little restraint, some of them had gone into the army 
because their homes had been ruined 'by the revolution- 
ists, some entered through fanaticism, some in the hopes 
of coming out of the struggle with personal profits. 
This army of rebels and traitors was divided by prov- 
inces, the gentlemen retained their privileges and re- 
fused to mingle with the others who were below them 
in social status. Brittany furnished seven regiments 
composed of nobles and an eighth had been left behind 
for home defenses. Even the costumes were distinctive 
of caste, those who were not nobles wore a uniform of 
iron gray; gentlemen wore the king’s blue. 

Some deserters, carrying with them the uniform of 
their corps, some officers of marines formed the only real 
military element to be found among them. 

The marine corps, brave but superstitious and ar- 
dently attached to royalty, were recruited among the 
families of the Breton littoral, all of them hostile to the 
revolution. The desertion of the marines, who for a 
long time had preserved the prestige of France upon 
the sea, had, notwithstanding the courage of the sailors, 
assured to the English their victory over the French fleet 
and their conquest of the ocean empire. 


The royal volunteers were poorly equipped; their arms 
were poor; their provisions were poor. The muskets, 
made in Germany, were weak affairs and many of tlie 
gentlemen carried their ordinary hunting-guns. The 
composition of this army greatly resembled a company 
of revolting Bohemians, their ages were various, there 
were old men who found it difficult to travel, there were 
entire families from Mie grandfather down to the grand- 
son standing side by side in the ranks. The picture 
was touching and grotesque. The army of the princes 
had but little artillery, and, notwithstanding the indi- 
vidual courage of its members, it could never become a 
soldierly body and it never was any aid to the royal 
refugee. The Prussians and the Austrians found noth- 
ing in these gentlemen but indolence, made nothing of 
them but encumbrances. 

The baron did not invite either confidence or discus- 
sion with those in whose midst he was forced to await 
a summons from the general. As he had but recently 
come from Paris, he was questioned about the condi- 
tion of the capital and the prospects for a return of the 
King to power. 

To these questions Lowendaal replied evasively, say- 
ing he had left before anything had been determined, 
that in the presence of the noisy crowds the excitement 
and the ardor of the revolutionists, he could gather 
nothing, and it had only been since his leaving the 
country had been declared to be in danger. 

The young gentlemen irritated by the haughty re- 
plies, showed their feelings towards the baron, who on 
his side requested to be informed at what hour it would 
be likely the commander would receive him at his tent, 
as he was impatient to complete his mission. 

Ignored by the gentlemen around the fire, who had 
become provoked by his unwillingness to speak freely 
concerning events in Paris, the baron sat alone by the 
flame of tbe bivouac, but looking vacantly over and be- 
yond it towards the gloomy corner of the walls of Ver- 
dun, where they abutted at the Porte Saint Victor. He 
looked each moment at the distant spot as if seeking a 
signal that did not appear. He consulted his watch 
anxiously and made no efforts to conceal the annoyance 
and nervousness he experienced at the tedious conver- 
sation of his companions. 

“What can be delaying Leonard?” he thought. 
“ Can he have proven a traitor? Did his courage fail him 


at the last moment ? If so, I will take a terrible revenge; 
I will send him to the galleys, as I have threatened ! ” 

And the baron, tiring of the ceaseless clatter of the 
volunteers, feigned sleep, closed his eyes, rolled himself 
in his mantle and stretched himself along the ground at 
the side of the blaze. He had but just settled himself 
for rest when an aide from the commander came with 
a message that General Clerfayt awaited him in his tent. 

The baron rose from his comfortable position, and 
throwing one final glance at the walls of Verdun, he 
followed his guide in silence. The soldiers he left be- 
hind sank again into repose indifferent to the bombard- 
ment that was yet heard on the opposite side of the 
city, but which was less furious than before -owing to 
the thoughtfulness of the Prussians, who, fearing a long 
siege, resolved to spare their ammunition. 

In the tent of the general, the baron came face to face 
with the aide-de-camp who had acted as envoy to the 
council for defense in the City Hall of Verdun. Comte 
de Neipperg was in uniform, and responded with chill- 
ing courtesy to the effusive salute of the new-comer. 

The interview was brief. 

The Austrian general asked concerning the disposi- 
tion of affairs in Verdun, and as the baron assured him 
they were excellent, favorable to an entry the next day, 
the general stepped to the front of the tent, and, throw- 
ing back the canvass, he swept his hand in the direction 
of the city and at the same moment a bursting shell 
described a great arc in the heavens and fell among the 
houses within the walls. The baron’s gaze mechani- 
cally followed the commander’s hand, and as his eyes 
traversed the track of the deadly shell until it sank from 
sight, he saw an intense red tongue of flame leap from 
the wall, flare up for a moment, and then die out. As 
he saw it he started, and his face paled, he trembled, 
whether from joy or fear he showed such terrible emo- 
tion that the commander said to him: “What is it? ” 

“Nothing, general, nothing! Nothing at all, fatigue, 
that is it, the anticipation of the joy I shall feel to- 
morrow, when the horrors of this unhappy siege are 
over! ” he answered, trying to appear calm. 

“ Do you believe the city will open its gates to us ? ” 
asked the general. 

“ This very day I was shown the signed agreement to 
surrender,” answered Lowendaal. 

“ Why did you not bring it here yourself? Why was 


it not sent by my aide, Comte de Neipperg, who went 
there charged by me and by Monsieur le Due de Bruns- 
wick to receive your acceptance ? ” 

“ I was not sure, general, that the city would be in a 
condition to capitulate in the morning ! ” 

“And why not; what obstacle was there 
“A relief, a chief of brigands, Commander de Beaure- 
paire entered there yesterday evening, entirely unex- 
pected, and went contrary to our plans, ruined our 
hopes ” — ^ 

“ A brave soldier, a worthy adversary, that Beaure- 
paire,” Neipperg interrupted. 

“Did you see him?” said the general with interest. 

“ I saw him and talked with him,” answered the comte. 
“You should have seen him because it was he who put 
Verdun so quickly in a state of defense; he said to me: 

‘ Verdun will never surrender ! ’ ” As Neipperg uttered 
these words he looked intently at the baron. 

“ What have you to say ? ” demanded Clerfayt, address- 
ing Lowendaal. “My aide has seen the place, and 
bears testimony to the energy with which it is defended, 
says the commander will not surrender, and yet you 
say the gates will be opened in the morning. Explain 
yourself.” 

“ Pajrdon, monsieur,” said the baron, in a slippery, 
unctuous voice, “ I shall not contradict your aide, but I 
have just had a signal that the obstacle — Beaurepaire — 
I beg you to pardon my hesitation, my awkwardness — 
I assure you, as I have already, that Verdun will sur- 
render.” 

“ And now you believe this surrender is possible? ” 

“ Certain, monsieur ! ” 

“ But Beaurepaire ? ” 

“ Beaurepaire is dead ! ” 

“ Dead ! How do you know ? How did you learn it ? ” 
The baron hung his head, and with an hypocritical 
sigh he continued: “ Monsieur, permit me to await the 
official confirmation of the news, which will be brought 
here by a messenger, the man who brings the signed 
capitulation will likewise inform you, I am certain, of 

the Commander Beurepaire ” 

“ Well, well, monsieur, we will wait ! ” said the general 
coldly, and made a sign to the baron that the interview 
was ended. 

When Lowendaal had retired, Neipperg said to the 
Austrian general: “This man is bad; he has a face 


120 


that excites suspicion; under a mask of satisfaction and 
smiles he tells us that Beaurepaire is dead. He was 
alive two hours ago, when I left Verdun; if he is dead 
they have assassinated him ! ” 

Clerfayt regarded his aide with surprise, and an- 
swered: 

“ We make loyal, honest war, we soldiers, my dear 
Neipperg, but these merchants who hold out their hands 
and open the gates of their cities, are capable of any 
infamy, they furnish the debris and the dirt in the 
kitchen of victory. The diners at a feast are not dis- 
turbed by the personality or the methods of those who 
prepare their dishes. One person satisfies his appetite, 
another his glory ! But await our courier, my dear fel- 
low, because morning will soon be here, and if the baron 
has spoken truly, we shall have many things to do dur- 
ing the day, the city to occupy, the posts to guard, the 
authorities to change, and all without considering the 
review that their majesties will give in the midst of the 
felicitations and homage of the inhabitants. To work, 
and, assuming that what Lowendaal has said is not 
true, we will continue to send our shrieking messages 
to, this Beaurepaire, who seems, indeed, a sturdy ad- 
versary." 

And then, as Neipperg took his seat at the small 
table prepared to write, Clerfayt opened the flap of the 
tent and called to an artillery officer who stood aside: 
“ Commander, continue firing from time to time at 
the ramparts so long as you see their flag flying." 


XXII. 

Catharine’s second charge. 

When Leonard left his master, perplexed, uncertain, 
frightened, he turned towards the Porte de France. On 
that side the cannon kept up an uninterrupted roar, and 
as Leonard was a novice in this fearful sound, his- limbs 
trembled and his face was ashen. He had his orders, 
however, and he dared not disobey. 

There, where the firing was heaviest, he resolved to 
first seek the man he had been told to find. Commander 
Beaurepaire. 

As he approached the fortifications, he met a party of 
officers who were gathered in a busy and noisy group 


I2I 


around a large wagon before which was a roughly im- 
provised table, covered with bottles, glasses, pieces of 
bread, bologna, and Frankfort sausages. 

It was the canteen of the Thirteenth. 

Behind the table two torches blazed furiously. Catha- 
rine Lefebvre, alert, joyous, and smiling, distributed the 
drinks and repast, encouraging the cannoniers and the 
marksmen, and joining in the frequent toast for the de- 
liverance of Verdun. 

From time to time Catharine ceased her pouring of 
>vine and her cutting of bread and sausages, to look in 
the wagon and assure herself of little Henriot’s safety. 

“ There is the cradle, there the cannon,” she said. 

Then she would return to her work, but not without 
growling forth some very, ugly remarks about the Prus- 
sians and their methods of firing shells. 

In the commencement of the engagement, when the 
enemy had come well up under the walls and had al- 
most reached the gate, Beaurepaire had employed every 
battery, had called out every sharpshooter, manned 
every weak point for the protection of the gate, and 
Catharine had left her canteen and hastened to the 
walls. There, like a war-fury, she had rushed from one 
spot to another, encouraging the men, giving aid to the 
wounded, and at one moment seized a gun and dis- 
charged- it full into the face of the Austrian cavaliers; 
she had contributed in no small degree by her energy 
to arrest the-panic and repel the charge of the enemy. 

Beaurepaire had noticed it and was pleased. 

When the enemy had retired, despairing of surprising 
a city that was so ably defended, Catharine returned to 
her canteen and her customers thronged about her. 

During the combat she saw Lefebvre, who with his 
detachment, protected the parapets and plunged a mur- 
derous fire into the Austrian columns. Reassured and 
made happy by this baptism of fire, Catharine had re- 
sumed her functions as a cantiniere, which she was just 
then fulfilling with excellent good humor and in a 
manner that gave general satisfaction. 

As she was filling the glasses of two artillerymen, she 
noticed among the crowd a man wearing a civilian’s 
dress and who was looking intently at the drinkers. 

“ Ah, my friend,” she called to him, “why don’t you 
come up here and have a schnick, as we say at home ? 
You are a civilian, but that is nothing; to-morrow you 
will be one of us, under arms, see ! You will be defen- 


122 


ding your country; come along, join us, we are all 
brothers!" 

And as the man made no reply to this engaging 
appeal, she continued: 

“ Don’t go away like that, friend, come, that’s what I 
said. Perhaps you have no money! That’s nothing. 
I’ll stand the drinks to-day, you put up the money to- 
morrow. What will you have, citizen ? ’’ 

The man replied shortly: 

“ Thanks, I don’t drink! ’’ 

“You are not thirsty, or you don’t drink? What are 
you doing here then?’’ 

The man hesitated an instant and then he replied: 

“ I want to talk with Commander Beaurepaire! ’’ 

Catharine looked at him with surprise. 

“You ? Talk to the commander? What do you want 
to say to him ? ’’ 

“ I have something important to say." 

Catharine shrugged her shoulders, as she always did 
when anything displeased her. 

“You have chosen a good time,’’ she observed. 

“ We choose the moments we can ! ’’ 

“That is true; but at this moment the commander 
cannot be seen.’’ 

The man shook his head and continued: 

“ It is absolutely necessary I should see him." 

Catharine looked at the fellow with sudden defiance; 
his persistency aroused her suspicion and she deter- 
mined to tell her suspicions to her husband. Signaling 
one of the soldiers without attracting the notice of the 
man himself, she asked him to hasten and find Lefebvre 
who was with the artillery then she thought. 

Excited by the noise of conflict and his tongue 
loosened by the numerous libations pressed upon him 
by a member of the municipality, who had interrogated 
him as to the whereabouts of the commander, the sol- 
dier notwithstanding the signal and warning grimaces 
of Catharine insisted that Beaurepaire was taking a 
little rest in a house at the upper end of the city, where 
he was going at four o’clock in the morning to awaken 
him and take his horse. 

Catharine losing all patience with the garrulous ras- 
cal, cried out: 

“You talk like a drunken magpie, you had better go 
and take a little rest yourself, it may do you good; you 
are in no condition to awaken the commander at four 


123 


o^clock, even if he did tell you to do so. Go and 
find Lefebvre, as I told you, I have no other use for 
gabblers and drunkards." 

I am going," the man replied, cowed by the anger 
of the woman. ^ 

Catharine resumed her duty of serving the soldiers, 
and after a few moments she mechanically looked for 
the man who had insisted on speaking with Beaurepaire. 

He had disappeared. 

Like a flash the thought ran through her mind that 
this man intended some serious harm to Beaurepaire; 
she was prompted to follow him and warn the com- 
mander, but she could not leave her canteen at such a* 
busy hour upon a vague suspicion, and so she waited 
hoping every moment for the coming of Lefebvre. 

The defenders of Verdun worked all the night in 
strengthening the walls, improving the position of the 
cannon and every now and then visiting the canteen 
where Catharine impatiently awaited her husband, and 
tried to persuade herself there was no need for her 
alarm, and that Beaurepaire was in no peril from the 
suspected man. 

Then the memory of Lowendaal would come before 
her, and her thoughts would become dark and threaten- 
ing. His face was forbidding, he had the countenance 
of a traitor. What could he devise against the brave 
defender of Verdun ? 

As the hours fled Catharine wearied with her work, 
and finally, as the drinkers became less numerous, she 
announced to those who lingered that refreshment for 
the night was at an end, she retired to the seclusion 
of her wagon, the distant sound, of soldiers toiling on 
the ramparts borne to her ears by the gentle wind in- 
creasing the lurid fears of evil to the commander that 
disturbed her mind. 


XXIII. 

THE DEATH OF A HERO. 

After having arranged her wagon and given a last 
kiss to little Henriot, who was sleeping soundly, Catha- 
rine, forgetting about rest for herself, Stepped out into 
the street and turned towards the upper portion of the 
city. 


124 


Her suspicions had made it impossible she should 
remain quiet, and it was now in the direction of the home 
of Mme. Blecourt that she took her way, to this house, 
where the commander had told her to take the little girl 
she had found in Jouy-en-Argonne and where now peril 
menaced Beaurepaire, and /where Catharine believed 
treason was to be let loose and murder was to be done. 

Hastily she went trough the deserted streets, dark, 
lonesome and silent excepting for an occasional passage 
of a shell high in the air, and within half an hour from 
the moment she left her wagon she turned the corner of 
the street within a few yards of Madame de Bl^court’s 
residence. At that moment she was startled by the 
report of a firearm, not the loud echoing discharge suf- 
ficient to arouse the city, and give warning of an ene- 
my’s approach, but the muffled sound, which coming in 
this isolated quarter, far from the ramparts and where 
all seemed to be deep in slumber, excited anew the terrors 
that Catharine pictured in her mind and caused a fresh 
fear to come over her. She felt as though she were in 
the presence of a crime. 

Hurrying her steps she caught sight of a man running 
in an oppsite direction and ju^st dimly shadowed in the 
darkness. Perhaps it was her imagination, for it seemed 
too obscure to learn anything with positiveness, but she 
felt that this escaping shadow was the man who had been 
at her canteen earlier in the night. So impressed was 
she with this thought that, without an instant’s hesita- 
tion, she cried at the top of her voice: 

Heh ! you man ! hold up, what are you shooting 
here ? ” 

But the unknown only redoubled his speed not even 
interrupting his flight by looking around, he turned the 
first corner and disappeared. 

Catharine checked her steps asking herself whether 
she should pursue this mysterious intruder. But then 
she reflected that although the man was apparently 
hastening from the neighborhood it was no reason 
why she should believe him guilty of the only crime 
she then had any thought of, and she convinced her- 
self it was more than folly to associate the existence of 
this unknown with the • safety or danger of Beaure- 
paire. Madame de Blecourt’s home was certainly suffi- 
cient in itself to assure the safety of the chief. 

Thus reassured, Catharine continued her way to the 
house where Plermione de Beaurepaire was sleeping with 


the little Alice in her arms and where the commander, 
overcome by fatigue, had no doubt thrown himself on 
the bed and in unconscious slumber awaited recall to 
the conflict. 

Thinking thus Catharine reached the door and had 
her hand upon the knocker about to awaken the in- 
mates by her call, when cries and the noise of shuffling 
steps were heard within, the windows were violently 
thrown open, heads appeared on different stories calling 
aloud for help. In night-dress and cap the aged mis- 
tress 6f the house appeared upon the balcony wildly 
throwing her arms in the air and appealing to the de- 
serted street for aid. 

At the same time the reflection of a red cloud appeared 
on the fapade of the opposite houses, volumes of black 
smoke rolled from the open windows and presently long 
tongues of flame played around the doors. 

“Fire! fire!” shouted Catharine, “ open the door!” 

The servants, losing their heads in the excitement, 
rushed down the stairs with shrieks of -terror, demand- 
ing of each other the whereabouts of the key that vrould 
enable them to reach the outer air: they finally burst 
their way through the obstructions and tumbled into the 
street. Several neighbors, awakened by the uproar 
threw open their windows and joined in the cries for 
help, others prepared as speedily as possible to go forth 
and do what they could towards saving the unhappy fam- 
ily. But, courageously, Catharine'-had already plunged 
into the flaming building regardless of her own safety 
and thinking only of those who were in the midst of 
danger. She mounted the stairs without knowing where 
they led; she groped through the dense smoke, she 
extended her arms before her as some little guide in 
penetrating the darkness that was so obscure. The 
nearest room had its door wide open and through it 
she stumbled, half suffocated by the blinding smoke. 
She could see nothing before her, but she called: 

“ Is there any one here ? Save yourself, quick ! ” 

No voice responded to her cry, but at the moment a 
gust of air brought through the chamber a long flash of 
flame, and at the same time drove through the door the 
volumes of smoke that obscured the sight. As the air 
half cleared for the second, Catharine uttered a cry of 
terror, for there, extended on the bed lay Beaurepaire 
in the semblance of sleep, inert, deaf to the tumult 
around him. 


126 


Catharine rushed towards the silent man and seizing 
him by the shoulders, she called: 

“ Commander, quick, wake up! The house is afire ! ” 

The commander gave no response; again the clouds 
of smoke filled the room, suffocating, blinding, Catharine 
kneeled at the side of the bed, rubbing her burning eyes 
with her hands; then she felt for the commander’s face, 
saying to herself: 

“ Perhaps he has fainted.” 

But the commander made no move; she placed her 
ear against his pillow, but heard no breathing. “ It is 
strange how deeply he sleeps ! ” 

She put her ear on his breast. 

His h^art does not beat ! ” An awful silence filled 
the room. Catharine, unwilling to believe the terrible 
truth, placed her hand on the commander’s forehead 
and quickly drew it away, covered with moisture, with 
some thick moisture that clung to her fingers and added 
to her terror. 

Instinctively she recoiled, dizziness seized her; she was 
soTeeble she almost fell, she tottered to the window and 
leaned far out to restore her senses in the open air. It 
was none too soon, another moment she would have 
sunken stupefied by the fumes of fire. 

The flames circling around the bed suddenly brought 
to her sight the livid face of Beaurepaire and his head 
bathed in blood; from a great wound in his temple 
a red stream trickled to the floor. 

“ The scoundrels, they have killed him,” said Cath- 
arine, and she shouted one more desperate appeal to those 
gathering on the pavement below to help the living 
inmates from the confusion of the fire, and then she 
again plunged through the smoke, seeking others that 
might require her help. 

Another staircase reached, she, with an effort, climbed 
upward, surrounded all the time by falling cinders 
blazing with the heat, by half-burned wood, bits of 
plaster, a rain of bits of fire that made every step more 
dangerous. Of a sudden there came to her, through 
the increasing sounds of crackling wood, the murmur 
of a sweet voice, singing in a plaintive tone a baby song. 

Astounded and stupefied Catharine put forth more 
energy yet to find the source of this incongruous inter- 
ruption. Certainly, some blind and deaf nurse could 
be the only living creature to utter such a chant in the 
midst of such a night. The voice came from an upper 


127 


floor and Catharine, braving herself to assail the flamed 
and smoke of this last stair, pushed forward. She 
quickly reached the closed door of a room from whence 
the voice came, a voice singing in a monotonous tone 
the solitary refrain of a lullaby. 

Bursting into the apartment Catharine saw before 
her, with vacant eye and head down upon her breast, 
Hermione de Beaurepaire, sitting on the edge of the 
bed, holding little Alice upon her knee and deaf to the 
cries of the child, who was frightened by the smoke 
creeping in through the crevices of the door. 

“Come quick! Come quick, madame! ” cried Catha- 
rine, the house is on fire! ” 

But Hermione continued^her song and continued to 
rock little Alice on her lap. 

“ There is no time to be lost! Quick! we must get 
out! ” Catharine continued imperatively, at the same 
time seizing the hand of the little girl who was trem- 
bling and sobbing in her fright. 

Hermione arose with peculiar deliberation and dig- 
nity, and bowing with gravity and reverence, she said: 

“ Good day, madame! Do you not know? I am going 
to be married, you will come to my marriage, won’t 
you? You will see how beautiful I can look! ” 

“ She is mad!” said Catharine, “but this is no time 
to hesitate. Come, follow me!” and she spoke with 
such imperiousness that Hermione could make no re- 
sistance. With fixed eyes, and arms hanging listlessly 
at her side, she meekly followed the lead of Catharine 
who carried Alice pressed closely to her to shield her 
as far as possible from the smoke, and every instant 
turning to see whether Hermione was coming after. In 
this way they descended the stair and hurried past the 
room where Beaurepaire lay. But as Hermione reached 
the door, she stopped and lifting up her arms she cried 
with an. unearthly cry: 

“ It is there — there — the man — the pistol at his temple! 
— He would have killed me, too,” and she sank an inert 
mass upon the floor. 

Catharine realizing it was impossible for her to carry 
Hermione to the street, ran down shouting for help to 
those below. Reaching the foot of the stairs and cling- 
ing desperately to Alice, she fought her way out of the 
flames the half unconscious baby in her arms. 

A group of soldiers who had been attracted by the 
fire and believed it to be due to the Prussian shells, had 


12 ^ 

formed a chain to pass water into the building or to 
rescue any one who might be overcome by the heat, and 
when Catharine came forth with the child she recog- 
nized among the soldiers many members of her hus-* 
band’s company and, appealing to them, she prayed 
they would make an effort to save the fainting Her- 
mione on the floor above and to drag from the devour- 
ing flames the sacred body of their commander. 

The men sprang forward and before the last words 
had been uttered the rescuers had disappeared through 
the smoke that obscured the entrance to the house. A 
few minutes later they reappeared, bearing the body of 
Beaurepaire and carrying th^ now revived Hermione, 
who was struggling in their grasp and protesting against 
her rescue. 

“ Let me go! Don’t take me from my house — you 
don’t know then! I am going to be married — Oh, the 
church will look beautiful the day I am married! ” 

The fire had done its work, the floors were crumbling, 
and the walls were weakened; nothing remained of the 
house but a great pile of blazing timbers. 

Madame de Blecourt was so severely injured in falling 
from her balcony when they attempted to rescue her, 
that she died a few days later. 

Hermione, whose reason had not returned, was placed 
in the charge of a good friend who looked after her. 

The body of Beaurepaire was taken to the City Hall. 
There the president and procureur-syndic declared the 
commander had committed suicide when he realized 
the terrible evils that would result from his not signing 
the article of capitulation of the city. This intention, 
they claim, had been declared by Beaurepaire when 
they were deliberating on the surrender and when he 
had refused to agree to the terms. 

This story, accompanying the sad news concerning the 
commander, was widely circulated by the traitors who 
had brought about his death and was accepted by the 
patriots in the absence of any contradiction. Grand 
honors were shown to the memory of heroic Beaurepaire 
in the funeral that was given him, and the council de- 
clared that his suicide to be exemplary and glorious. 

The cowards who had profited by the assassination 
of Beaurepaire, so adroitly accomplished by Leonard, 
the next day opened the gates of their city to the Aus- 
trian and Prussian armies, in virtue of the treaty of 


129 


capitulation that Lowe ndaal had handed to the com- 
manding general of the Duke of Brunswick. 

The King of Prussia made his triumphal entry into 
Verdun. 

He was received by the rich bourgeois with acclama- 
tions and with open arms; President Ternaux gave him 
a banquet at the City Hall, and the procureur-syndic, 
Gossin, in the course of his speech, with the coffee, com- 
pared the monarch to Alexander the Great taking pos- 
session of Babylon. The daughters of the royalists, 
afterwards guillotined and glorified by the poets as mar- 
tyrs, msulted the patriotism of the defenders of Verdun 
and carried the crown of the King of Prussia upon a 
cushion, they themselves^ being clothed in white with the 
banner of their noble families preceding them. Thus, 
they did honor to a victor without a combat, to the 
master of their city through treason. 

Verdun had earned the title of the city of cowards. 
Through surrender the frontier was destroyed, the road 
to Paris was open, and the armies of Austria and Prus- 
sia had nothing to do but take up their uninterrupted 
march to the capital and there inflict the chastisement 
that had been promised by Brunswick. 

No fortress, no army, no resistance was possible the 
royalists thought in this revival of their hopes, to stop 
the onward march of the victorious allies. 

The garrison of Verdun had been accorded the honors 
of war, and they left the city with their weapons and 
their daggers. Lefebvre, promoted to a captaincy, was 
ordered with the Thirteenth Infantry to join the army 
of the North. Catharine took with her little Alice, 
made an orphan by the insanity of her mother. Alice 
sat in the corner of the wagon by the side of Hen- 
riot, delighted to be once more with her young com- 
panion and the two little blonde heads commingled 
their ringlets in innocent slumber. 

XXIV. 

ON THE BORDERS OF OBLIVION. 

During all these incidents that were rapidly follow- 
ing each other in the east, and when Dumouriez and 
Kellermann checked the invasion at Valury and saved 
France and the republic by forcing the Austrians and 


Prussians to retreat into Belgium, where was Bona- 
parte ? 

He was in the midst of his family, a refugee at Mar- 
seilles and without resources. 

After living in one lodging after another, all of them 
in the poorest quarters of the city, being driven from 
her rooms by pitiless landlords and persecuted by im- 
patient creditors, Madame Letitia Bonaparte, possessed 
of a noble soul and an energetic heart, found a humble 
resting place in the Rue du Faubourg de Rome. The 
proprietor was a rich soap-dealer named Clary, who 
had learned of the family and its sufferings and ex- 
pressed his sympathy in the practical way of offering 
them a home. 

Their living had become laborious and difficult. 
Arising at daybreak Madame Bonaparte arranged her 
household affairs, cooked, washed, prepared the modest 
repast, directed her daughters to their respective work. 
One attended to procuring and caring for the provi- 
sions, another looked after the linen and clothes of the 
family, the youngest only were permitted to waste their 
time in pla)^ The days were occupied by the mother 
and two daughters in doing needlework which they 
sold, and this humble income was for a long time their 
sole means of support. Joseph finally secured a situa- 
tion in the Administration of Military Subsistences, but 
his pay was so exceedingly small that it was very little 
help to the family. 

In this manner they struggled along until the situa- 
tion became so severe they were forced to take ad- 
vantage of their title of refugees and claim the rations 
of bread which the municipality offered to the poor of 
the city, and especiallyTo those who had been reduced 
to this necessity by their patriotism, or who had been 
persecuted because of their adherence to the national 
cause. 

Napoleon, having been again reduced to a private in 
the ranks, was unable to contribute anything to the 
wants of his family and so great was his misery and so 
powerfully did it prey upon his mind, that upon one 
occasion he was prompted to suicide after the thought 
frequently had found its way into his mind. 

One day, being without a sou in his pocket, his cour- 
age left him entirely and turning his steps towards the 
sea he resolved then and there to kill himself. Climb- 
ing to the top of a great rock that jutted into the 


Water, he seated himself upon it and fell into profound 
meditation. 

The beautiful green of the waves attracted him, and 
as he gazed into them he hastily reviewed the failure of 
his career. Useless to his country, disarmed, his talents 
reduced to the commonest labor, having no more confi- 
dence in himself, no longer able to discern his guiding 
star in the heavens, made melancholy by the overwhelm- 
ing sense of his isolation, mortified by the realization 
that he had become a burden to his mother, he gazed 
with an unflinching eye into the inviting forgetfulness 
of the Mediterranean. 

He could not rid his mind of the considerations that 
made suicide desirable, freed from life he would relieve 
his family from a needless mouth to feed, and make the 
ration of bread allowed them by public charity so much 
more useful. He stood thus for an hour occupied with 
the most sinister resolutions, reproaching his courage in 
not permitting him to plunge into the water without 
further delay, persuading himself he had nothing to 
hope for, nothing before him. He had reached the 
melancholy resolve to carry out his desperate remedy, 
and was ready to leap into eternity, when his train of 
thought was interrupted by hearing his name pro- 
nounced, and he turned with an irritated expression 
towards the fisherman who had thus addressed him. 

“ So it is you, Napoleon. What the devil are you 
doing there that you did not recognize me ? Desmazis, 
your old chum in the artillery regiment; have you for- 
gotten the good times we used to have at Valence?” 

Napoleon recalled at once his former comrade and 
Was unaffectedly pleased at the meeting. He descended 
from his place and entered into conversation with the 
former artilleryman. Desmazis explained that he had 
emigrated at the first indications of the revolution and 
had lived peacefully in Italy, near Savone on the coast. 
Having learned that his mother, at Marseilles, had been 
attacked by a severe illness, he had come quietly there in 
the garb of a fisherman and had thus far escaped atten- 
tion. 

Reassured as to his mother’s health, and satisfied 
that his return and the pleasure it gave the old lady to 
hold him once more in her arms were genuine elements 
in her recovery, he resolved to remain where he was 
and give his time to the little vessel he had acquired. 

“ But what are you .doing here ? ” he asked Napoleon 


with interest and received in reply a vague explanation 
of an imaginary important duty. 

“You are not contented, Napoleon?" said Desmazis 
with emotion; “you do not appear glad to see me. 
What is it that worries you ? Is any trouble threaten- 
ing you ? Tell me. You really have the air of a foolish 
man who had resolved to kill himself ! ’’ 

Bonaparte, touched by the sympathetic tone of his 
comrade, confessed to him his true situation and admit- 
ted the intention to put an end to his life without delay. 

“That is it, is it?” exclaimed Desmazis. “Then I 
have found you at a good time. Here!” and taking 
from a belt he wore a quantity of money, he con- 
tinued, “here are ten thousand francs. I have no use 
for them at this moment, and they are at your disposal. 
Pay them back to me when you can. Take them and 
save yourself.” 

Suiting the action to his words, he held the ten thou- 
sand francs towards Napoleon, a fortune to this officer 
standing within the grasp of actual poverty. The gene- 
rous friend forced the money into Napoleon’s hand and 
said warmly: 

“ Au revoir, old friend ! my little boat is there and 
my sailors await me. Good luck, good-by ! ” 

And with no other word he turned rapidly away 
towards a small craft that lay at some distance down 
the shore, and which he quickly gained, stepped upon 
its deck and was soon standing out to sea. 

Napoleon, stupefied by the windfall which he could 
only believe had descended directly from heaven, 
remained motionless upon the sands until the vessel had 
become a speck on the sea and then he hastened to his 
humble home, wondering all the way whether the 
treasure he hugged with such jealous care was really 
his, or whether the events of the past few minutes had 
been a dream. Bursting into their sparsely furnished 
rooms where his mother and sisters were sitting, Napo- 
leon threw a handful of gold on the table, exclaiming: 

“ Mother, we are rich ! Sisters, you shall eat all you 
want and you shall have new dresses, every one of you! 
Ah ! this is a grand stroke ! ” 

Then he clinked the pieces together and dazzled them 
all by the volume and brightness of the ringing metal. 

Later, Napoleon was forced to employ detectives to 
find his benefactor that he might repay this noble loan. 
Desmazis was at last discovered in a little village of 



‘‘you AUE NOT CONTENTED, NAPOLEON?’^ SAID 

EMOTION, 


DESMAZIS, WITH 






133 


Provence, occupied in horticulture. He was cultivating 
violets and had entirely forgotten the aid he extended 
to his old comrade at such a timely moment, and it was 
only after the most pressing solicitation that he accepted 
the three hundred thousand francs Napoleon insisted 
upon giving him as the equivalent of his ten-thousand 
loan. At the same time, Napoleon made him Director 
of Gardens for the Crown, a' post that insured him a 
handsome annual'income. 

The ten thousand francs not only saved Bonaparte 
from a, miserable end and his family from famine, but it 
permitted Joseph to conclude a rich marriage upon 
which- his heart had been set, although his condition 
had discouraged his ambition in that direction. The 
young lady who was thus disposed to unite her fortunes 
with the desperate chances of Joseph Bonaparte, was 
Mademoiselle Julie Clary, eldest daughter of the other 
liberal friend who had given the Bonapartes shelter and 
a home. 

Napoleon, who always evidenced a singular pleasure in 
matchmaking, made no secret of his envy of Joseph’s 
happy selection and enchanting wife. He cast his eyes 
towards Julie’s sister, Desiree, and upon several occa- 
sions declared his affection to that young woman with 
every evidence of seriousness, and while she received 
his protests with polite amiability they made not the 
slightest impression upon her, and she, like Madame 
Permon, could see in him nothing but a penniless 
dreamer who was unable to inspire love by his person- 
ality or to demand it by his prospects. The future 
conqueror of the world could not extend his triumph to 
these two women. 

Yet, despite the refusal of Desiree, he continued his 
attentions for many months and the persistency with 
which he pursued the subject ended in arousing her 
resentment in no small degree, and so irritated Napoleon 
that he felt inspired to a conjugal revenge and the dis- 
dain of Desiree had much to do with his selection of 
Josephine as a wife, the Josephine who thus became an 
Empress. 

Notwithstanding this, the destiny of Desiree was brill- 
iant. She married Bernadotte and became Queen of 
Sweden. 

This, then, was the situation of Bonaparte at the 
moment when Lefebvre and .his wife, in the battalion 
of the army of the north, marched towards the old 
village of Jemmapes, ^ 


XXV. 


JEMMAPES. 

Robespierre said, “The. war is absurd.” 

The war was absurd because they had no soldiers, no 
generals, no arms, no munitions, no money, nothing 
that is necessary to enable a people to enter into a cam- 
paign for attack, or to occupy a territory to oppose the 
advance of an organized enemy. The generals were all 
royalists and traitors, Dumouriez, Dillon, Custine, 
Valence. The young Due de Chartres, who later was 
called Louis Philippe, was favored by the commander- 
in-chief, Dumouriez, who reserved for the prince a brill- 
iant undertaking. The young due occupied the Meuse, 
and checked the Austrians in their march on Velenci- 
ennes and Lille; he also displayed creditable bravery on 
the important day of Jemmapes. 

The army — although it was not an army, but a mob 
of combatants, miserably equipped, many of them wear- 
ing a blouse and others a farmer’s dress, many of them 
- without guns, many armed with pickaxes — they had no 
cohesion, no discipline, no instruction. It was an up- 
rising of the people who, in a moment 'of enthusiasm, 
seized such arms as they found near at hand and rushed 
pell-mell to the deliverance of their native land. 

As they marched they sang, these sublime volun- 
teers! The Marseillaise, the Carmagnole, the Ca ira 
accompanied them everywhere on their tumultuous 
progress. They were inspired by faith, encouraged by 
hope, sustained by their innate patriotism. 

At Jemmapes the improvised volunteer infantry of 
the republic assembled and was commanded by the 
former sub-officers, such as Hoche and Lefebvre, who 
replaced the commanders of the nobility for they had 
gone over to the enemy. 

On the 5th of November, 1792, as the sun, blazing red, 
was sinking from view and trailing its long banner of 
blood along the horizon, the army of the republic came 
through the distant woods and over the surrounding 
hills and took up its position before the formidable de- 
fenses of Jemmapes. The heights that surrounded the 
city of Mons were peopled by three villages, which at 
that moment were the active centers of a vigorous cam- 
paign, Cuesmes, Berthaimont, Jemmapes. The Austri- 


135 


ans had fortified themselves on these positions with re- 
doubts, fallen trees, palisades, all affording shelter to a’ 
numerous train of artillery, a large body of Tyrolean 
cavalry and a considerable force of trained infantry. 

The Duke of Saxe-Teschen, prince of the empire, 
lieutenant to the Emperor of Austria, governor of Hol- 
land, commander-in-chief, had under his orders the 
forces of General Clerfayt, whose counsel was generally 
directed towards restraining the impetuosity of his chief, 
and Clerfayt now advised that the Austrian forces 
should leave the city in three columns during the night 
and fall upon the French completing their destruction 
before they had an opportunity to decide upon an order 
of battle. The advantage, he argued, in such a surprise 
would naturally rest with the army that was under the 
most perfect discipline. The Duke of Saxe-Teschen, 
happily, considered that there was little glory to be 
gathered from a night attack and he therefore objected 
to this plan and declared that he would await the ris- 
ing of the sun. 

Dumouriez profited by the inaction of the enemy to 
dispose his army in a semicircle. General d’Harville 
commanding the extreme right. Due de Chartres occu- 
pying the center, intending to attack Jemmapes en face^ 
General Ferrand manoeuvring on the flank of the vil- 
lage to the left. The order was to advance in columns 
by battalions, the cavalry to sustain the flanks, the artil- 
lery being so placed as to sweep down between the 
separate columns. The hussars and the dragoons were 
massed between Cuesmes and Jemmapes, to bar that 
road to the Austrian cavalry. 

These dispositions being made they lighted their fires 
and passed the night quietly. 

A small stream and a little wood offered some protec- 
tion to the French, while the mountains that rose behind 
them afforded an opportunity to fire down upon the 
Austrians. The chateau of Lowendaal stood on what 
was accepted as neutral ground between the two camps,, 
and it had been designated as the advance post by the 
two commanders. The chateau was not disturbed by 
either of the contending forces, and it was left un- 
molested to the sole occupancy of its owner and his 
family. 

The Baron de Lowendaal had returned to his 
home, and on the night before the French made 
their appearance, his friend, the Marquis de Laveline 


136 


had arrived accompanied by Blanche, and the baron 
more than ever in love with Mademoiselle de Laveline 
and reassured by Leonard as to the termination of his 
adventure with thermione, was making preparations for 
marriage. 

Beaurepaire dead, Hermione bereft of her reason and 
practically without existence, there certainly could be 
no obstacle now arise to his union. The reproaches, 
prayers, threats, Lowendaal realized had amounted to 
nothing and the living proof of his intrigue, little Alice, 
had disappeared. The baron was absolutely free. He 
had reached the end of his desires; in a few hours he 
would possess Blanche. 

Notwithstanding the protests of the Marquis de Lave- 
line that the moment for the celebration of the marriage 
was unhappily chosen, as the enemy might interfere with 
the ceremonies on the next day, the baron persisted in 
his determination and his only response was to remind 
the marquis of his promise. 

‘‘ Very well,” said the marquis, “ you will have to settle 
it with my daughter; I cannot prevail upon her to agree 
to the marriage now.” 

“That is your lookout!” the baron muttered; “you 
must in some way get reason into the rebellious girl.” 

And, as if this disposed of the affair so far as any op- 
position went, the baron summoned a notary to come to 
him at once, and directed that the chaplain of the chateau 
should make preparations for the ceremony at an hour 
to be decided upon later. 

Midnight, it was determined, should see the marriage 
celebrated and immediately thereafter the newly wedded 
pair were to leave for Brussels, accompanied by the mar- 
quis, there they would await in security and the protec- 
tion of the Imperial army, the result of the uprising. 

Blanche alone was ignorant of these arrangements, 
for ever since her arrival at the chateau she had kept 
herself secluded in her apartment, seeing no one but her 
father. The baron had twice insisted that he should 
see her or that she should join him in the salon, but she 
had refused to permit him to enter her apartments and 
had declined, with equal determination, to leave them. 
Anxiously she looked from the window and hardly re- 
moved her eyes from the long road that disappeared 
between the neighboring hills; she watched as though 
expecting some aid, some relief that was late in com- 
ing. Her eyes swept over the deserted country, but 


137 


they swept in vain. It was Catharine Lefebvre whom 
Blanche sought. 

Her bosom agitated, her heart beating madly, her 
eyes filled with tears, her hands trembling with such 
nervousness that she could with difficulty restrain 
them, Blanche de Laveline peered forth from her win- 
dow awaiting the fulfillment of Catharine’s promise. 
She had every confidence, she knew Catharine would 
find the rendezvous and bring the child with her. 
But what it was that delayed her, why she allowed the 
last day to approach within twelve hours before mak- 
ing her appearance, the unhappy Blanche could not 
divine. 

She was ignorant of the fact that Catharine had joined 
the army of the north. She did not know that when 
the scouts from the Thirteenth Regiment had returned 
from their reconnaissance up to the very walls of the 
chateau they went to Catharine’s canteen in the woods 
of Cuesmes, and there, while she held little Henriot and 
Alice by the hand, they told her the road to take to 
Lowendaal. Catharine knew that Blanche had already 
reached the chateau, because a countryman, a farmer 
devoted to the cause of liberty, had said, in answer to her 
questions, that on the night before a handsome man and 
a beautiful woman had arrived there. 

In her own mind Catharine had often rehearsed her 
action and arranged her plan of action; she would go 
to the chateau; she would see Blanche de Laveline and 
tell her that her little boy, Henriot, was near her under' 
the protection of Lefebvre’s bayonets. 

This seemed to her safer and easier than to reunite 
mother and child at once. This resolution taken, Cath- 
arine placed two pistols in her belt and left the camp, 
directing her steps towards Lowendaal. She had said 
nothing to Lefebvre, because he would probably have 
disapproved of the undertaking in view of the many 
dangers to which she would be exposed between the 
two armies and in the darkness of the night. 

But before she left she embraced little Henriot, who 
already slept peacefully in the wagon by the side of 
Alice, and she murmured: 

Sleep, little darling, while I go to your mother ! ” 

Then she started upon her road, indifferent to the 
perils, fearless of the Austrians who roamed, fearful 
only of her return to the anger of Lefebvre that she 
should have risked her life. 


All went well with her and no startling sight came 
within the range of her alert glances until she had 
reached the little clump of trees that stood midway on 
her route to the chateau, and marked the last advance 
post of the French. As she was about to enter the 
wood, she saw before her the long shadow of a man, a 
tall, slender man, standing against one of the trees and 
apparently watching, or perhaps a sentry, whose post 
was properly here. Quickly Catharine’s hand grasped 
one of the pistols in her belt and, drawing the weapon 
ready to fire, she said, in a low voice : 

“ Who goes there ? ” 

“ It is a friend, Madame Lefebvre,” replied a voice, 
filled with the joy of recognition. 

What is that, a friend ? ’! 

“Yes, madame, Violette, at your service.” 

“ Ah, it is you, stupid! I came near killing you!” 
said Catharine, recognizing her assistant cantiniere, a 
devoted but simple-minded boy who had cast his for- 
tunes with the volunteers. He made no pretensions to 
bravery and he was daily persecuted by the rude jokes 
of his more robust comrades. Now Catharine quietly 
appropriated the pistol he held in his hand and laughed 
at him. 

“ Go on,” she said, “ and at the same time tell me 
what the devil you are doing outside the lines ! ” 

“ I was going with you, Madame Lefebvre,” the boy 
answered, timidly; “I saw you leave the camp and fol- 
lowed you.” 

“ To spy on me ? ” - 

“ Oh, no, madame; but I said to myself you would be 
in danger, and I would go ” 

“In danger! Yes, certainly; but what is it that you 
could do? Danger and you, that makes two dangers ! ” 
and Catharine laughed heartily. 

“ For a long time, Madame Lefebvre, I have wished 
to share your danger; I have come here because, per- 
haps, it is a good opportunity this evening” 

“ For what ?” asked Catharine, surprised at the per- 
sistency of her aide. 

“ Madame,” Violette answered, visibly embarrassed 
and searching carefully for every word, “ because this 
evening we are quiet, we are in no danger of being 
seen ” 

“ Why do you not wish to be seen ? ” 

“If I have chosen the night, it is because in the day 


139 


I feel timid; but there is something I have to say to you, 
Madame Lefebvre, I cannot delay." 

“ You came here to see me ? " 

“ Oh, do not refuse me, do not send me away. I love 
you, Madame Lefebvre. I have never dared to tell you 
at the canteen in day time before our comrades, but here 
where it is dark and lonesome I can tell you, I am brave." 

Catharine replied in a half-irritated tone to the 
amorous avowal of the youth, and, pushing him aside, 
she continued on her route; but the persistent Violette 
would not be so easily disposed of and he took up his 
position a few steps in advance of the cantiniere. 

“Stop ! " exclaimed Catharine; “ where are you going 
now ? Take care ! " she added alarmed, for behind him 
a dark shadow crept and sprang at his back, and before 
she could come to his aid, the boy and the shadow rol- 
led into the bushes, and then she heard two pistol shots 
as she fled along the path that she might more quickly 
reach the open country again. Fearing an ambuscade, 
she checked her speed and went forward more cau- 
tiously, looking carefully about her, when, suddenly from 
the bushes, she saw a man spring forth and run with all 
his strength across the open. 

“ Poor boy," Catharine murmured, “ too bad, he will 
be difficult to replace at the canteen," thinking of his 
dead body as it probably lay in the undergrowth by the 
side of the path behind her. And with this thought 
uppermost she pushed ahead, and a few moments after, 
as she turned past a tall hedge that ran along the ap- 
proach to the chateau, she was startled into an ex- 
clamation of astonishment by again coming face to face 
with Violette, this time standing with a drawn sword in 
his hand, as though he were guarding some precious ob- 
ject from some possible attack. 

“You!" she cried in an incredulous voice, “how did 
you get here ? " 

“ I quieted the Dutchman who fired his gun off," 
Violette answered tranquilly, dropping his sabre into its 
scabbard at the same moment." 

“ Where is he ? " 

“ There in the bushes ! " 

“Dead?" 

“I believe so, and yet he had good luck in meeting 
only a coward like me. But I have taken something 
that is a burden to me," and he indicated a round object 
slung across his back. 


What is it ? ” she asked. 

“ That fellow’s drum. I borrowed it ” 

“What for?” 

“It may be of service ! Perhaps of more use than his 
gun and then I feared he might give the alarm with his 
drum, and it would go hard with us, if we were found 
here by the Austrians. Shall we proceed, Madame 
Lefebvre ? ” 

“ You are a brave boy, Violette ! ” 

“ You must not give me credit for it, Madame Lefebvre, 
I know very well what I am, that I am a coward, and I 
know, too, that I love you ” 

“Violette, you must cease such talk as that. I for- 
bid it!” 

“Very well, madame, and now let us go on.” 

Catharine looked at her aide in surprise; he stood 
before her in a new light entirely. Violette standing 
up valiantly under fire ! Violette vanquishing an 
Austrian in the bushes, and with no other weapon than 
a sword ! What was it that had changed this timid boy 
into this brave champion ? She thought for an instant 
that he should return to the camp, but he had proven 
himself so courageous, so strong, that she resolved two 
were better in the affair than one. 

“ Violette,” she said in a more amiable and friendly 
manner, “ I should tell you that I am going into danger, 
great danger. Do you still persist in going with me P*” 

“ I would follow you through fire, Madame Lefebvre,” 
the youth replied earnestly. 

“ Then begin by accompanying me through the water, 
because we must wade that brook in order to reach the 
chateau you see over there; it is to the chateau I am 
going.” 

“We are going, madame, I am with you.” 

“ Good, take care, and keep your eyes open.” 

The two slowly picked their way over the steep bank 
of the stream, and crossed it with the water high above 
their shoes, and, as they clambered up the opposite side, 
they found themselves before the doors of the baron’s 
stables. With as little noise as possible they kept along 
by the side of the buildings, seeking some doorway by 
which they might gain entrance to the gardens. After 
stumbling for some minutes along the uncertain path 
with hesitating steps they reached a spot where the wall 
was much lower than at other places, and Catharine 
motioned to Violette to stoop a little that she might 


step upon his back and be thus enabled to vault the 
wall and reach the gardens on the other side. Vio- 
lette willingly submitted to the burden of Catharine’s 
sturdy limbs, and she ^lightly sprang from his bended 
shoulders to the wall where she awaited him before 
jumping down again. 

Some moments later they both found themselves in 
the garden, and cautiously proceeding towards the house, 
keeping well within the shadows of the trees, they pres- 
ently stood before the windows of the brilliantly lighted 
reception-room. 


XXVI. 

THE NUPTIAL MASS. 

The Baron de Lowendaal and the Marquis de Lave- 
line had their final conference and made their final 
arrangements. The baron had imposed these condi- 
tions: Blanche should become his wife that night, and 
they should lea\e at once for Alsace, he would then re- 
lease the marquis from his obligations and restore his 
forfeited property, without speaking of some other and 
minor considerations of like character. 

It was not only the honor of the marriage that at- 
tracted M. de Laveline, for he grea^^ly desired that 
Blanche should be reasonable and willingly consent to 
respond to the pleadings of Lowendaal, but it was the 
convenience of a restored and disembarrassed estate that 
likewise entered into his calculations. The baron, operat- 
ing through fear as he had done in the transaction with 
Leonard, had involved the marquis in a complicated 
transaction. 

He had engaged with the marquis, who was always 
short of money, in an operation that was scandalous 
and filled with dangers. Friend of the Prince of 
Rohan, Laveline had mixed himself up with the affairs 
of the diamond necklace. He avoided public detection, 
but the baron held certain indisputable proof of his partic- 
ipation in this gigantic fraud, wherein the role supposed 
to have been played by Marie Antoinette was to be 
most compromising. 

Could the marquis escape the pursuit of the baron by 
flight from France ? The Court of Austria would hold 
him as a prisoner, would deliver him up for vengeance 


142 


as a conspirator against the honor of the queen, an 
archduchess of the empire. 

Could he remain in France? Denounced to the revo- 
lutionary government, his participation in the affair 
would inevitably be followed by punishment. 

He found himself absolutely at the mercy of the 
baron, and as he rose from his interview he realized 
that he stood between two fires, one threatening, the 
other most perplexing. The one he clearly understood 
to be final as it was, the other he must test at once 
and to that end he sought his daughter, whom he found 
in tears, but with her resolve to resist the baron in no 
way shaken and her stubbornness perhaps more em- 
phatic than before. 

Arguments of the most sensible and impressive char- 
acter the marquis employed to shake his daughter’s 
resolution; pictures of her sumptuous life he drew in 
skillful language, the indolent existence that would 
be hers, the gratification of every wish, all this he 
sketched before her mental sight, but all without avail, 
the heart of Blanche was closed to sentiment, her brain 
was not moved by reason and so the marquis was finally 
driven to his last appeal, the confession of his criminal 
intrigue and the power possessed by the baron in his 
knowledge of the affair. The baron was master of his 
liberty, of his honor, of his life, if Blanche failed him he 
should die; would she in a persistent refusal to this act 
be willing to accept the responsibility of parricide ? 

Blanche wept and trembled when she heard this con- 
fession and the words that followed it, nor could she 
understand the strange action of the baron who showed 
himself, in her sight, to be without pity, dignity, re- 
spect! To urge a marriage with one who detested him, 
with one who loved another, one who had a child born 
of that other love! Persuaded that the baron had re- 
ceived the letter sent by Leonard, Blanche tried to calm 
the alarm of her father, for she felt that M. de Lowen- 
daal must certainly have been touched by the confession 
she had made, evidently he had not revealed her secret 
and this indicated that he would not abuse his power 
over M. de Laveline. Relying confidently upon the 
continued objection of Blanche to the marriage, he 
would seem to still desire it so as to deceive the mar- 
quis, he would probably never refer to the fault she had 
confessed and would permit the full onus of separation 
to fall upon her refusal to marry him. Believing this, 


143 


she felt easy in her resolve and without saying anything 
to M. de Laveline as to the motive of her action, she 
repeated her determination never to become the wife of 
the baron. 

“ Very well, then,” shouted M. de Laveline in a rage 
he made no effort to control, and angered beyond 
expression by the foolish resistance of his rebellious and 
perverse daughter. I shall be obeyed and you shall 
be married this very night, understand, this night, if I 
have to carry you to the altar myself.” 

After which he left the room, stamping his feet and 
raging and sought the baron with the assurance that 
he might continue the preparations for the ceremony; 
his daughter would be ready at the appointed hour. 

Blanche again left to herself was torn by the most 
alarming uncertainties. Why did the baron persist thus 
in the face of what she had written him ? Had he some 
other motive ? Did he really propose to marry her 
despite all ? She could find no answer to her own 
doubts, but she felt that her heart was strong and her 
will unshaken; she would always resist this union, the 
very thought of which filled her with horror. And then 
her mind went to Catharine and little Henriot, and her 
wild wonderings as to the cause of Catharine’s delay. 
She felt, if the child were there, the living evidence of 
her other love, it would affect the marquis and force the 
baron to abandon his singular position. She asked her- 
self whether Catharine would keep her promise, for as 
hours flew by and she came not, the confidence that 
Blanche had felt gradually disappeared and she was 
forced to the conviction that Catharine had proven 
false. 

The night had come on rapidly, darkness had settled 
upon the earth and Blanche had strained her eyes peer- 
ing through the shadows, in vain efforts to discover a 
weary woman tramping along the heavy road, hugging 
a child to her breast. She had left the window when 
the darkness without had become impenetrable and 
she sat wrapped in the profoundest melancholy, and 
yet the lingering traces of womanly trust still played 
with her doubts, she found excuses and explanations 
for Catharine’s absence in the swarming hordes of 
warriors in the adjacent country that had driven her 
from the road, or prevented her leaving Paris at all. 

“ She will not come,” sobbed the unhappy girl, “ and 
J shall never again see my child.” 


144 


Then, prostrated with the idea of being forced into 
this odious marriage or causing the ruin or perhaps the 
death of her father by her refusal, she sobbed and 
sobbed until her eyes were swollen. But of a sud- 
den her sobs stopped, her tears were dried, her hands 
clenched in her lap showed a new resolve and again she 
was at the window. 

Could she do it ? The roads she knew, the night was 
dark and friendly, the presence of the two armies was 
favorable; she could pass through these crowds of sol- 
diers without being noticed; the country was filled with 
poor people fleeing before the troops. A woman could 
pass unperceived, or at least undisturbed. She could 
reach some distant city, Brussels or Lille, and then go 
to Paris, and at Versailles she would find Catharine and 
her little Henriot. Her jewels and some money she 
still had; she would write a few lines to her father, and 
when she was far from this detested chateau and the 
first anger had passed over, the marquis would send her 
resources upon which to live. 

Hurriedly she made such preparations as were neces- 
sary for her flight; in a. small hand-bag she threw the 
gems and coins that were among her possessions; she 
wrapped herself in a great mantle, and for precaution 
against severity of climate she took another cloak over 
her arm that she might use if occasion required. 

Leaving the lights as though she were still in her 
room, she quietly opened the door, tip-toed down the 
stairs, fled along the corridor holding her breath in 
fear that even it might be heard, reached the outer 
entrance and in an instant found herself in the open 
air. 

The night was fresh and clear, not too dark so that 
progress was impeded; she hurriedly traversed the 
intervening space and reached a little clump of trees that 
stood beneath the walls of the park, and here she felt 
she was saved. She halted to recover her strength 
and to consider in what direction she should next move. 
As she stood trembling in the concealment of the trees 
she saw two shadows fall across the path, presaging 
two human beings who certainly were close behind her. 
Paralyzed with fear, Blanche shrank into the shadow 
still further and hoped that, whoever it might be 
approaching, would pass her by without discovery. But 
those who every instant were coming nearer seemed 
to be seeking concealment themselves, and as they, too, 


145 


sought the protection of the friendly shadows Blanche 
was able to make out the tall figure of a man and the 
short, plump figure of a woman, who wore a cloak that 
-extended only to her waist and who held her skirts 
high above her shoes, that she might pass the heavy 
underbrush without so much as disturbing it into a 
rustle. Another moment and, despite the effort of 
Blanche to shrink beyond the possibility of detection, 
the two intruders came full upon her. 

“ Who is it?” said a female voice. 

“I know that voice!” Blanche said beneath her 
breath, and then exclaimed aloud, “ Who are you ? I 
shall call for help!” 

“Don’t call! We are friends; we have come here to 
see Mademoiselle Blanche de Laveline.” 

“ That is me ! My God ! Catharine, is it you? I 
know your voice.” 

Catharine surprised and delighted at the meeting, 
threw aside her hood and told Violette, who had 
meanwhile given the military salute to Blanche, to step 
back that she might say a few words with her new-found 
friend. 

“ Where is he, where is my little Henriot ?” Blanche 
exclaimed in a trembling voice, and not waiting for a 
response she asked, “ But what is this costume you 
wear, you are dressed like a cantiniere ? ” 

Catharine hurriedly told her she had become a 
member of the Thirteenth Infantry, and quieted her 
alarms by assuring her that little Henriot was at that 
moment sleeping peacefully on the comfortable bed 
provided for him in the wagon and surrounded by an 
armed guard nothing could vanquish; and Blanche, 
with all the maternal instincts within her aroused, urged 
that she should be at onc^ conducted to her child. 

Catharine advised her to remain at the chateau for 
the night at least, it might be that the next day the 
French would occupy the building and then the restora- 
tion of her child would be a simple matter, but now to 
risk the dangers of the night in travelling between two 
hostile camps was needless and, indeed, a folly. 

But Blanche ignored the protests of her adviser 
and hurriedly recited the situation in the chateau 
where, if she remained another hour, she would be 
eternally wedded to Baron de Lowendaal. 

“What shall we do?” Catharine said in a puzzled 
way, “how unfortunate it is that Lefebvre is not with 


146 


US, he could tell us just what to do. If that fool there 
had an idea!” and she indicated Violette by a nod^ 
of her head, and then turning to him she asked, “ Say,.* 
have you got an idea ? ” 

“ If you think well, Madame Lefebvre, I will go back 
to the camp and bring the little boy here,” Violette 
timidly suggested. 

Catharine shrugged her shoulders in disdain. 

“ I don’t see how you could very well carry a baby in 
your arms,” she said. 

“Suppose I go with you!” said Blanche, “ oh, yes, 
Catharine, let me go with him.” 

“But think of the danger! the bullets! the sentinels! ” 

“ I fear nothing. Is it likely that a mother would 
stop at any danger to embrace her child ? ” 

Catharine felt that this probably was the best way of 
satisfying Blanche and at the same time placing her 
beyond the reach of the baron. Once within the French 
camp she would be safe and she could rest withc^ut 
fear of intrusion in the wagon of the cantiniere. They 
were turning to retrace* their steps towards the wall, 
over which they could find exit from the park, when the 
sound of voices coming through the open d'oor of the 
chateau caused them-to hesitate. A number of servants 
preceding the baron and bearing blazing torches in their 
hands, stepped upon the veranda and as they looked 
out over the gloomy lawn the baron, turning to his 
valet, said: 

“ Go to Madmoiselle de Laveline and tell her we 
are ready for the ceremony, and that her father and 
myself await her in the chapel.” 

The valet disappeared; the baron and his train crossed 
the park and entered the little chapel that stood at the 
other side. 

“ My God, I am lost, they will discover my flight ! ” 
said Blanche. 

“We must gain time, but how shall we do it? There 
is one chance and we must take it,” Catharine an- 
swered. 

“What is it? Speak, Catharine, I am ready to brave 
anything to escape from the power of that man, I will 
never go inside of that chapel. 

“ But if some one should take your place, it would 
give you a quarter of an hour’s start, anyway.” 

“A quarter of an hour would be salvation. I 
could get out of the park and I could reach the open 


^47 


country; I could then, perhaps, reach the advance posts 
of the French. The idea is good, but who is there that 
can take my place ? ” 

“I will do it?” said Catharine. “Go, there is not a 
second to lose; give me your cloak.” 

Lowendaal had looked over the interior of the chapel 
and found it to his satisfaction; everything was arranged 
as he had directed, he stepped back upon the porch 
looking for M. de Laveline and intending to give 
orders that the carriage might be ready to take them 
away. So soon as the marriage was over, he intended 
to start with his young bride at once on the road for 
Brussels, the proximity of the Austrian army and the 
likelihood of an immediate conflict had influenced him 
in setting an early hour for the ceremony and for the 
departure. 

Quickly Catharine threw about her the cloak that 
Blanche had removed, and covering her head with its 
cape she passionately embraced the unhappy Blanche 
and pushed her towards Violette, who seized her 
hand and led the way towards the outer road. Catha- 
rine followed them anxiously with her eyes until they 
had disappeared in the darkness of the night; they had 
reached the limits of the park and in another moment 
were safely beyond the walls. 

“ Poor little Henriot,” said Catharine with emotion, 
“and Lefebvre what will he think if I do not come back 
tQ-night ? Bah ! he won’t think anything of it.” 

She turned towards the chateau and stood irresolute 
at the entrance of the salon. Glancing about at the ser- 
vants, who were gathered in whispering groups, she said: 

“Tell the baron that Mademoiselle de Laveline awaits 
him in the chapel.” 

Leaving the door, she walked slowly towards the 
lighted building at the other side of the park, and as 
she quietly entered the inviting portal and hesitated 
behind one of the majestic pillars that supported the 
decorated roof, she heard voices near her mingled, in an 
earnest conversation. The baron was saying: 

“ You have the order, Leonard ?” 

“ Yes, Monsieur le Baron,” replied the man, “ I have 
here in our kitchen one of the messengers whom I induced 
to come under the promise of a supper, he has en- 
joyed a drink and I should judge that he was troubled 
with a tremendous thirst because he is sleeping soundly 
just now.” 


And his papers ? ” 

“ I have them, nothing important excepting the order, 
which I have kept.” 

“Good! take it quickly to the Austrian commander,” 
saying which the baron left the chapel and went back 
to the chateau. 

“ What have they said there?” Catharine exclaimed, 
“ what order is it that they have seized ? I wonder if 
it can be ours ! ” 

She hesitated as to what it were best to do; should 
she remain, or should she hasten back to the French 
camp and give the alarm ? But she had promised 
Blanche, her benefactress, to detain her persecutors and 
to take her part in the chapeL She would hold to that, 
and when it was all over there would be plenty of time 
to return to the camp and to tell Lefebvre of the treason 
that was being done. 

She walked up the aisle of the chapel, impatient 
the baron should appear and yet wishing to delay the 
discovery so long as possible that Blanche might have 
ample time to reach a safe retreat. 

“ But, if they should be surprised while they are sleep- 
ing 1 But no, the men of the Thirteenth never sleep, 
and even with the order of march stolen, they are lying 
on their guns at this moment and would be ready even 
for such a surprise.” 

Somewhat reassured by this confident argument 
with herself, she sank upon one of the sofas that stood 
at the side of the chapel and awaited the coming of the 
groom. 

A priest, fully dressed in his sacred robes, prayed de- 
voutly at the chancel and gave no attention to the 
intruder. Curiously she looked about her, examining 
the pictures of the sacrifice of the cross, the ornaments 
of the tabernacle, the little lamp that burned and swung 
by its long golden chain suspended to the ceiling, and 
the four angels that stood at either corner of the altar. 

“ Heavens I It looks as though they were coming 
here to a funeral instead of to celebrate a marriage 1 ” 
Catharine murmured to herself, impressed by the sad- 
ness of the surroundings, and then she once more looked 
about her with a feeling of indifference, as though it 
were but for a moment at the most. She was inter- 
rupted in her idle thoughts by the door of the cliapel 
being suddenly opened, and the sound of sabres clank- 
ing on the marble floor, as a detachment of Austrian 


149 


soldiers filed up the aisle. The priest, startled by the 
unusual sound, turned and motioned to the troopers 
not to approach the altar, and* then, in a rapid voice, he 
began the reading of his ritual. Baron de Lowendaal 
entered a moment later, and with his hat in hand, ap- 
proached Catharine sitting at the side of the chancel. 

“ I hope, mademoiselle, that I shall have the honor 
and the very great pleasure of accompanying you to the 
altar with monsieur, your father. I need not say how 
happy you have made me, and I well appreciate your 
timidity and ask your pardon for the haste I have been 
forced to urge upon you. Will you permit me to sit 
beside you ! ” 

Catharine, wrapped securely in the cloak that Blanche 
had given her, made no response nor did she move to 
make place for the baron as he had asked. The marquis, 
approaching in his turn, said to her: 

“ I am glad, my dear, that I can congratulate you 
upon having become more reasonable. But, Blanche, 
put aside your cloak, it is not becoming you should 
receive your husband thus, and don’t you see that you 
have been done the honor of having as your guest the 
officers of General Clerfayt ? They wish to see you, they 
wish to congratulate you upon this great day; don’t you 
understand?” 

When Catharine heard the name of the Austrian offi- 
cers, she gave an involuntary start that loosened the 
mantle clinging about her and it slipped down over her 
shoulders sufficiently to expose the tricolor pinned to 
her breast. Startled and surprised the marquis seized 
the cloak, and throwing it off upon the floor, he cried; 

“ This is not my daughter ! ” 

“Who are you ?” said the baron, half stupefied. 

The priest at this moment turned towards the as- 
sembly, and, extending his arms in the attitude of bene- 
diction, he murmured: 

“ Bene dicat vos^ 07 nnipotens Deus ! Dominus vobiscum ! ” 

And his assistant responded: 

“ Et cwn spiritu tuo ! ” 

The Austrian officers, attracted by the loud voices of 
the marquis and the baron, had approached the group, 
and as they caught sight of Catharine, one of them ex- 
claimed: “A Frenchwoman, a cantiniere.” 

“Yes, a Frenchwoman!” she replied, “Catharine 
Lefebvre, cantiniere of the Thirteenth. How does that 
strike you ? ” 


And with the words she grasped the mantle from the 
floor, and laughing she flung it across the face of her 
disappointed fiance, and Snapped her fingers in the face 
of the Austrian officers; “ do you see this ? This is the 
mark of the Thirteenth; do you like the number?” and, 
without waiting for reply, she threw them aside with her 
sturdy arms and ran to the altar where she claimed the 
protection of the priest and of his God. 


XXVII, 

THE DEBT OF THE WOUNDED. 

The first moment of surprise past, one of the Austrian 
officers advanced to the chancel and placed his hand on 
Catharine’s shoulder: 

“ You are my prisoner, madame,” he said. 

. ‘‘ Go on ! ” Catharine said; “ I am not a fighter, I am 
here on a visit, a diplomatic visit.” 

“ You need not joke! You came into the chateau, and 
I have taken possession of it in the name of his Majesty, 
the Emperor Of Austria; you are French; you are on 
Austrian territory. I therefore arrest you.” 

“You arrest women now, do you ? That is not gal- 
lant ! ” 

“ You are a cantiniere ! ” 

“ Cantinieres are not soldiers.” 

“ It was not as a soldier that you are a prisoner; it is 
as a spy,” replied the officer, at the same time making a 
signal to his men with the command: 

“ Take this woman to the chateau and examine her; 
see what she knows and how much she has learned 
here.” 

The baron, who had disappeared when he discovered 
the identity of Catharine and had gone to Blanche’s 
apartments only to find them deserted, rushed into the 
chapel crying loudly and appealing to every one about 
him for vengeance. 

“ Gentlemen, gentlemen ! ”he cried in a voice strang- 
ling with emotion, “this woman is the accomplice in a 
foul crime; she has aided the flight of Mademoiselle de 
Laveline, my fianc^. Tell me, tell me, woman, where is 
Mademoiselle de Laveline ?” and became threateningly 
near to the intrepid cantiniere. 

Catharine laughed in his face. 


If you wish to see Mademoiselle de Laveline,” she 
answered, “ you must desert the Austrians and go to 
the camp of the French — she awaits you there.” 

“ At the French camp! What is she doing there ? ” 

The baron was blinded between astonishment and 
rage, but the marquis, hoping to restore some of the 
evils that had thus far been done, whispered in the ear 
of the baron: 

“ Let me reassure you; it will not be at the French 
camp that she will see de Neipperg, so don’t be jealous.” 

“ It may be if she has fled to the French camp she is 
in love with Dumouriez,” said the infuriated baron. 

“ She has gone to her child,” said Catharine. 

“ Her child ! ! ! ” exclaimed both the marquis and 
baron. 

“Certainly! Little Henriot, a pretty little cherub; a 
nicer little child than you could ever dream of, baron,” 
replied Catharine, laughingly. 

But Lowendaal did not hear the jocular slur upon his 
capacity; he was stupefied with the words Catharine 
had uttered and he could hear nothing else. 

Leonard, who stood behind his master, had. an inter- 
est in the disclosure that seemed to him as intense as 
it was to the baron. All his projects were defeated, 
Blanche gone; the child, the baron aware of its exist- 
ence, would cease to be a means of intimidation, a 
menace, a perpetual weapon that he could constantly 
level against the Baroness de Lowendaal. He could 
have no further hopes of realizing the flattering advan- 
tages he had pictured to himself in the possession of 
this terrible secret of Mademoiselle de Laveline. 

He reflected quickly on the part he was to take in this 
new situation. He was a man of brains and of few 
scruples, this Leonard; he had no fear when a profit was 
in sight, and he speedily came to a resolve as to the 
course that was open to him in this difficult affair. 

“ Why should not I, too, g6 to the French camp?” he 
said to himself. “I can pass in;. I have the word from 
their messenger. All may not be lost yet ! ” 

Then, without attracting attention, he slipped behind 
the Austrian soldiers and made his way towards the 
door and the open air. The officer who had arrested 
Catharine asked in a low voice: 

“ Have you finished, baron ? Are there any questions 
you wish to ask the woman, any suggestions you have 
to make ? ” 


“ No, no, none; only look out for her, shoot her if she 
would escape,” shouted the exasperated baron with 
furious despair that was ludicrous in its antics. “ Ob- 
tain from her all she knows of Mademoiselle de Lave- 
line, and what is the true meaning of these mysterious 
words about a child.” 

The officer with calm indifference responded: 

“We will question her in the salon of the chateau; 
to-morrow we will report to you.” 

“To-morrow the soldiers of the'republic will be here 
and not one of you will be able to report anything; you 
will all be dead or prisoners,” Catharine defiantly ex- 
claimed. 

“Take her along,” said the officer, “leave your guns 
here and carry her into the chateau; if she resists, tie 
her! ” 

Four of his men placing their muskets against the 
rail that protected the chancel, advanced towards Catha- 
rine to execute the order, but the cantiniere threw her- 
self into an attitude of resistance and pulling forth the 
two pistols from her belt, she held them, pointed to- 
wards the advancing soldiers, and gave them warning 
in her shrillest tones: 

“ Stop, the first to put his hand on me is a dead man! ” 

“Advance! advance!” ordered the officer, “would 
you be repulsed by a woman? ” 

The four men had hesitated for a moment, when the 
two weapons met their eyes, but now under the com- 
mand of their captain they took a step forward, when 
through the deathlike stillness of the night, and the 
uproar of the chapel, there swept the long roll of drums, 
the ominous threatening roll that meant the approach 
of an enemy. 

“The French! the French!” shouted the baron in 
terror. 

Panic seized the soldiers, a panic that was sudden and 
irresistible with men and officers alike, the four who 
were advancing on Catharine, thought nothing of their 
guns, their sole concern was to seek some seclusion 
where they might be safe from the avenging sabres of 
the patriots; on their heels came the officers but little 
less alarmed and persuaded that they were surprised by 
the advance guard of Dumouriez. 

The marquis and the baron had fled to the chateau 
with the first sound; the chapel was deserted save for 
Catharine and the priest at the altar, who, indifferent to 


all that was ^oing on, was concluding the duties of his 
sacred office. 

The drums continued their threatening sounds, com- 
ing nearer and nearer, and Catharine, standing joyous 
and surprised at the door, had her astonishment in- 
creased by the sudden appearance of Violette, who 
came around the corner of the building vigorously 
pounding the drum he had captured earlier in the night 
and had worn slung over his shoulders. 

“ What, you here! where did you come from? Where 
is the regiment ? ” 

“The regiment is in the camp," said Violette, ceasing 
his noise, “ But I have come in good time, it seems, 
Madame Lefebvre, and say, hadn’t we better close this 
door, for I am afraid we must take shelter inside the 
chapel for awhile! ’’ 

And with all speed the two amateur warriors barri- 
caded the door as best they could. Then Violette ex- 
plained to Catharine that he had conducted Blanche 
towards the camp and on the way had met a patrol 
force commanded by Lefebvre and he had placed 
Mademoiselle de Laveline under the protection of two 
of the men and she was at that time safely inside the 
lines of Dumouriez, and no doubt pressing little Henriot 
to her heart. After having done this, he had left the 
detachment of the Thirteenth, and hurried back to the 
chateau to rescue her. Surprised by tlie noise in the 
chapel, he had crept quietly up alongside the building, 
and lifting himself so he could look in the window, he 
had witnessed all that took place and realized the dan- 
ger that threatened his captain’s wife. It was then the 
idea came to him to frighten the Germans by the roil of 
the drum that they would mistake for the approach of 
the French. 

“You see, Madame Lefebvre, how useful we have 
found old Guillaumet’s drum; what do you think? I 
will make a famous drum-major, won’t I?" 

“ Where is my husband ? Where did you leave him ? ’’ 

“ Not two hundred yards away, waiting down here in 
the bushes if he is required." 

“And what is the signal?" 

“ A pistol shot." 

“ Listen, what’s that, it sounds like the tramp of 
horses ! " 

They put their ears against the door and they heard 
a confused sound without, the clanking of sabres, the 


heavy tread of horses, and the rattling of spurs and 
accoutrements that indicated the arrival of cavalry, the 
coming of the Austrians. 

“ Shall I fire. Mademoiselle Lefebvre ? ” asked Vio- 
lette, seizing one of the muskets from the altar rail. 

“ Not yet; we have plenty of time, we have ammuni- 
tion there to give four signals. Don’t fire ! ” 

“ Why not ? ” 

‘‘Because the Austrians are reinforced; you would 
draw Lefebvre and our men into an ambuscade. We 
two can get out of this somehow; we must use our 
wits.” 

“ Command me, madame, I will obey ! ” 

Their further plans were interrupted by a violent 
pounding on the panels of the door, and a loud voice 
exclaiming: 

“ Open, or we will break in the door ! ” 

Violette at the direction of Catharine, who realized 
there was no advantage in persisting in a resistance that 
could be so readily overcome, removed the barriers and 
threw back the heavy portals revealing a throng of 
cavalrymen and foot soldiers, all brought into heavy 
shadow by the darkness, but among the mass the glitter 
of naked swords the scintillation of helmets, the glisten 
of sharp bayonets. 

Catharine and Violette stood defiantly at the altar 
awaiting with breathless anxiety the next move of their 
overwhelming foe, and the two opposing forces, so ter- 
ribly unequal, were kept apart only by the towering 
figure of the black-robed priest, who had been aroused 
by the armed invasion of his sanctuary and now stood 
with arms extended towards the crucifix, with warning 
gesture against the despoilers of this inviolate spot. 

But such interruption was but momentary, and the 
first to break through the barriers of superstition was 
the officer who had arre’sted Catharine, and who had 
been humiliated by the retreat his cowardice had 
prompted at the sound of the drums, and now called for 
his revenge. He addressed an officer, who stood along- 
side the door and was wrapped in a rich cloak em- 
broidered in gold: 

“ Colonel, are we to shoot that man and woman ? ” he 
asked. 

“ Why the woman ? ” replied the officer. 

. “ They are both spies, colonel. We have received our 
orders.” 


155 


“ Have you learned who they are, their names ? Get 
this information first and then we can better decide." 

“ I demand that we be treated as prisoners of war," 
said Catharine heatedly, taking a few steps forward. 

“ The battle has not begun," answered the officer. 

“Yes it has, by us. I am the advance guard and this 
boy is the first column,” Catharine replied. “You have 
no authority to shoot us, because we surrender. I warn 
you, if you commit this murder, we shall be terribly 
avenged; the men of the Thirteenth will exact a pay- 
ment for our deaths that will leave no man of you alive. 
They are near here, only a few yards away ! Remember 
the Mill of Valmy ! My husband, who is captain in the 
Thirteenth, will follow his vengeance through your whole 
army. And I am Catharine Lefebvre ! ” 

The colonel gave an involuntary start, and then com- 
ing forward several paces, and apparently seeking to have 
a better glimpse of the courageous woman, he said with 
marked politeness: “Madame, do you know of a Le- 
febvre who served in the Paris Guards, and who married 
a washerwoman — called Madame Sans-Gene ? ” 

“The washerwoman, Madame Sans-Gene, is me; Le- 
febvre, Captain Lefebvre, is my husband.” 

The officer, filled with a lively emotion, came nearer 
to Catharine and, throwing back his mantle and looking 
her in the face, said: 

“ Don’t you recognize me ! ” 

Catharine recoiled a step, saying: 

“ Your voice, your face, colonel, seems familiar to me; 
I see you, but it is as in the midst of a cloud." 

“ A cloud made by the smoke of cannons. Have you 
forgotten the loth of August?” 

“The loth of August! It is you, then, the wounded 
officer, the wounded Austrian officer ! ” Catharine ex- 
claimed. 

“ Yes, it is; it is the Comte de Neipperg, whom you 
have saved, and who you have placed under an eternal 
obligation. Let me embrace you, for it is to you I owe 
my life ! ” And he advanced with open arms and an 
expression of manly gratitude lighting up his face, but 
Catharine again repelled his friendly overtures and 
stepped lightly beyond his reach. 

“ I remember you well, my colonel," she said, “ and 
what I did for you was inspired by humanity; you were 
unarmed, wounded, and pursued; I protected you with- 
out asking under what flag you had received your 


Wound, without caring on which side you had fought. 
To-day I find you wearing the uniform of the enemies 
of my nation, commanding soldiers that are invading 
my country. I don’t want to recall what happened in 
Paris; my friends, the soldiers of my regiment, my hus- 
band, this brave boy here a prisoner beside me, all these 
patriots would reproach me for having preserved the 
life of an aristocrat, of an Austrian, of a colonel who 
would shoot his prisoners. Monsieur le Comte, do not 
speak of the loth of August. I am not proud to think 
that I have saved an enemy of my people.” 

Neipperg heard Catharine through without inter- 
ruption, and her energetic words affected him deeply. 

“ Catharine, my benefactress,” he replied, “ do not 
reproach me for serving my country as you serve yours. 
As your brave husband defends his flag, so do I battle 
for mine; destiny separates us and we dwell beneath a 
different sky, but great perils throw us together. Do not 
sadden me with your reproaches and your hostility; if 
you forget the loth of August, I cannot; I treasure its 
memory, and I, the colonel of the etat-major in the vic- 
torious Imperial army ” 

“ Not yet victorious,” Catharine interrupted. 

“But to be to-morrow,” Neipperg continued. “A 
colonel of the Empire who is in command here has not 
forgotten, and he owes it to himself to repay the debt 
he contracted in the fight before the Tuileries. Cath- 
arine Lefebvre, you are free ! ” 

“ Thanks ! ” she simply said ; “ but how about Vio- 
lette ?” 

“ That man is a soldier; he came here improperly; he 
must suffer the penalty of a spy,” 

“Then you must shoot me with him. It will never 
be said in our camp that Catharine Lefebvre, cantiniere 
of the Thirteenth, deserted a brave boy whom she had 
led into the hands of the enemy. We are ready, colonel; 
give your order, and have it done speedily, I don’t want 
to think too much of it, for it is not pleasant to feel a 
dozen bullets in one’s skin when one is young, and when 
one loves her husband. Oh, well! It is war ! ” 

“Pardon, excuse me, colonel,” said Violette, “you 
cannot do better than to shoot me alone. I deserve it, 
but she doesn’t. Really, on my word, colonel, Madame 
Lefebvre was here, but I came on a little business.” 

“ For what ? What were you looking for in this 
house?” the colonel demanded 


*‘Well, I had to come here; I came to bring a baby, 
I suppose, I may be said to have come as a nurse.” 

“ A baby ? ” exclaimed Neipperg, looking at Catharine. 
“You brought a baby here? What baby? Whose 
baby ? ” 

“ Your baby, Monsieur le Comte,” answered Catharine. 
“ I promised Mademoiselle de Laveline to bring her son 
here, to Jemmapes ” 

“ And you have risked your life to doit ! Brave', noble 
woman! But tell me, where is the child ? My child ? ” 

“ In safety and in the French camp with his mother.” 

“And then Mademoiselle de Laveline is not here! 
How do you know?.” 

“She has fled, fled at the moment when her father 
would have forced her to marry the Baron de Lowen- 
daal.” 

“ Then I should have arrived too late to save her, and 
without you ” 

“Without Violette, colonel; it was he who did it.” 

“ Go, you have your freedom also, Violette,” said 
Neipperg joyously. “ Catharine, you are free, I repeat 
it, go with your comrade. I will send two guards with 
you to take you in safety beyond the outposts.” 

And giving his orders to this effect, he said to Catha- 
rine: 

“You will. see Blanche; tell her I love her and I 
am waiting for her; tell her that after the battle I will 
join her on the road to Paris.” 

“ Or the road to Brussels, Monsieur le Comte,” Catha- 
rine interrupted, but Neipperg gave no attention to the 
sarcastic rejoinder, merely raising his hand to his hat 
and continuing: 

“ Profit by the last hours of the night to reach your 
camp, and believe me, my dear Madame Lefebvre, 
I have not by any means repaid the great debt I owe 
you; I shall always be indebted to you. Perhaps the 
fortunes of war may furnish me with another occasion 
when I may prove to you that the Comte de Neipperg 
is not ungrateful.” 

“Bah,” said Catharine; “we are quits, Monsieur le 
Comte, for that affair of the tenth of August, but, per- 
haps, you can some time do a good turn for the boy 
there. Adieu, my colonel, adieu. Here, Violette, right 
file, quick step, en avafit^ march! ” 

The two passed down the line of the Austrian sol- 
diers, Violette with all his boyish dignity, and Catha- 


rine, her fists on her hips, her coquettish cap with its 
tricolor cocard on the side of her head, a smile of 
defiance on her lips. When they reached the door of 
the chapel, Catharine wheeled about until she faced the 
crowded room and giving a military salute, she said: 

“ Adieu, gentlemen, I shall return in the morning with 
Lefebvre and the volunteers.” 


XXVIII. 

BEFORE THE BATTLE. 

Neipperg watched after Catharine until she had been 
lost in the little grove near the walls, but his thoughts 
were with Blanche and he asked himself how it could 
be possible that between two armies preparing for 
battle, a young woman with a baby could pass through 
the lines without serious risk. Happily, he was assured 
that the plan for marriage arranged by Lowendaal and 
the marquis had not been carried out and as Blanche 
was still free she should now be his. 

He sought the baron and the marquis, but they had 
disappeared; a sentry he questioned told him they had 
entered their carriage with an attendant and had taken 
the road leading to Brussels. 

Then he dismissed these disagreeable subjects from 
his mind and his thoughts traveled back to Blanche. 
He pictured her happy with her little Henriot lying be- 
side her, he rejoiced at the glorious reunion, and he felt 
what a flood of contentment would be his if he could 
see her and know that she were safe. Then a shadow 
fell across the vision: how should he rejoin Blanche? 
How could he find her and the child? The battle would 
shortly begin, he would have no power to cross the 
lines, it would be impossible for him to enter the French 
camp even as an envoy, and at the hour when the sun 
would first light up the heavens Jemmapes and Mons 
would be surrounded by the flame of cannons. 

He could not fail to foretell the result of the day. 
Victory would unquestionably come to the old troops, 
the veterans, the disciplined ranks of the Imperial army. 
The shoemakers, the tailors, the haberdashers who com- 
posed the republican army could not hope to fight 
against the trained soldiers of the Duke of Saxe- 
Teschen. The duke had already dispatched a courier 



NEIPPEUG, FOUGETTING DIGNITY OK 
PASSIONATELY TO 


KESTUAINT, CLASPED BLANCH 
HIS BllEAST. 



159 


to Vienna announcing the defeat of the republican 
rabble. 

But in the inevitable defeat of the French what was 
to become of Blanche and the baby ? The thought 
occasioned the keenest anguish to Neipperg; the very 
suspicion of the dangers that would follow the rout 
and the disruption of this improvised army, incapable 
of managing a retreat, entirely without the rules of 
military art. He searched through his mind vainly for 
means to preserve the two beings who were so dear to 
him and he pictured them as victims of a panic-stricken 
rabble. He was thinking thus when a slight disturbance 
outside caused some of the officers to hastily leave the 
salon and prompted Neipperg to inquire the cause of 
the tumult. 

The return of the officers told him a woman had 
been seized by the sentries as she was trying to gain 
entrance to the house, and at that moment was in cus- 
tody, despite her assertions, which they did not believe, 
that she was a daughter of Marquis de Laveline and 
desired to be admitted to her father, who was just then 
a guest of the Baron de Lowendaal. 

The words produced a surprise as great to the offi- 
cers as to the Comte, for no sooner were they uttered 
than Neipperg leapt to his feet and started for the door, 
while through his mind ran the puzzling thought what 
it could mean, what was the significance of her return 
after Catharine had assured him Blanche was safely 
inside the French lines? What new unhappiness had 
driven her forth to brave the perils of the stragglers 
from both armies ? But all these conjectures would be 
quickly answered, for it was indeed Blanche that Neip- 
perg saw before him, her dress soiled by the muddy 
roads and torn by the thorns and shrubs, her manner 
excited and anxious, her face giving evidence of tears 
and suffering. 

Neipperg, forgetting dignity or restraint, clasped 
Blanche passionately to his breast and asked her the 
reason of her return. Despite the evils of the approach- 
ing battle and the terrors of this night, the presence of 
Blanche drove all other thoughts from Neipperg’s 
mind; she came like a sunburst into his surroundings. 
Then she told him of her flight, which he had already 
learned from Catharine, and of her arrival in the camp 
of the republicans escorted by the soldiers of Captain 
Lefebvre. 


Following the directions Catharine had given her, 
she went directfy to the canteen wagon of the Thir- 
teenth. There, in the wagon, she had found a child, 
rolled in its coverings and sleeping soundly on a mat- 
tress, and then beside this she found another mattress 
v/ith the clothes thrown carelessly away from it as 
though some one had just arizen. She bent over the 
sleeping infant, and the maternal lips were pressed 
against the forehead of the child. The kiss awakened 
the sleeper, and, sitting up in the bed, Blanche saw a dear 
little girl, with long yellow ringlets and great staring 
eyes full of surprise, and asking mutely what it all 
meant. Blanche, seeing her mistake, asked anxiously: 

‘‘ Where is my child ? Where is little Henriot ? " 

The little girl rubbed her eyes and answered: 

Isn’t Henriot there? Has he gone to see them fire 
off the cannons? The naughty boy, why didn’t he wake 
me up ? ” 

A soldier, who accompanied Blanche and held a lan- 
tern while she picked her way along, recalled the pres- 
ence of a strange man in the camp and explained that 
he had seen the fellow, dressed in civilian clothes, going 
towards Maubeuge carrying a sleeping infant in his 
arms. At this information Blanche cried in agony and 
fell unconscious to the ground, while the soldier, alarmed 
by the incident he could not understand, summoned 
two comrades and they carried the fainting woman to 
the doctor’s tent where she quickly opened her eye§ 
and called for her child; she asked them to aid her in 
pursuing the man who had stolen the bab)?-, and she 
attempted to rise that she might follow him at once. 

‘‘ I feel deeply for you, madame,” said the major’s 
aide who was present, “but it would be difficult for 
you to take the road the soldier says the man has 
gone over, it is encumbered with wagons, cannon, 
troops ” 

“ I want my child,” repeated the unhappy mother. 
“ Why has that man taken him ? Who could have done 
such a deed ? ” 

The major’s aide, Marcel, replied as best he could to 
the nervous questions of the distracted Blanche and 
endeavored in every way to quiet and comfort her. The 
sergeant joined them and whispered something to Marcel, 
who thereupon said: 

“ Madame, I have some information that may enable 
me to trace this rascal, who came into camp and took 


your child, he got into the camp by treason, I believe.’* 

“ Oh, tell me you will save him, sergeant,” and 
Blanche clung to the arm of the sergeant with renewed 
hope. 

“ Speak, Rene,” said the major’s aide, and in response 
the pretty sergeant told how, just outside the camp, she 
met the man she had known at Verdun, the man she 
had met on the night of the murder of Beaurepaire, 
and who she recognized as Lowendaahs servant, the man 
Leonard. 

“Leonard! Monsieur de Lowendaal’s valet?” ex- 
claimed Blanche, and she at once saw in her mind the 
plan had been worked at the instigation of the baron; 
he had sent Leonard to steal the child so soon as her 
flight had been discovered, and Henriot would be held 
by the baron as a hostage. With the idea that the 
child would be taken to the chateau and she would find 
him with Lowendaal, Blanche had again incurred the 
risk of the night and returned. Her joy at finding 
Neipperg in the chateau was increased by the absence 
of her father and the baron, for she felt that some active 
methods were now necessary and she could not take 
them unaided. Without doubt Leonard had joined the 
baron at some place that could only be conjectured, 
particularly as none knew in what direction he had gone 
after leaving the road where Rene saw him. Neipperg 
knew that the baron and the marquis had taken the 
route to Brussels. 

“We will find them to-morrow,” he said to reassure 
Blanche. 

“Why can’t we start to-night?” said Blanche im- 
patiently. “ To-morrow we shall be at Brussels.” 

“To-morrow, my dear wife,” Neipperg replied, “ v/e 
fight. When we have the French in full retreat, I will 
then make it my business to pursue the wretch who has 
stolen our child, but my devotion as a soldier must be 
considered before my anguish as a father.” 

“ I will wait then,” answered Blanche with a sob. 
“ Oh, this night, this interminable day.” 

“Blanche,” said Neipperg with sudden gravity, “what 
shall you do here, the only woman in the midst of an 
army preparing for battle ? I cannot be with you con- 
stantly, and my protection must, from the existing con- 
ditions, be discreet, reserved. I have no rights that en- 
title me to demand protection for you any more than 
might be demanded for any defenseless woman by our 


i 62 


general, our prince, or our common soldiers. Blanche, 
don’t you understand me?” 

Mademoiselle de Laveline blushed and looked to the 
ground, but made no response. Neipperg continued: 

“ If after the battle we rejoin your father and Mon- 
sieur de Lowendaal, you will be again under their au- 
thority.” 

I shall resist them — I shall protect myself.” ^ 

“ They will dominate you through your child; they 
hold him. Despite the fact he is my boy, what right 
can I invoke to claim the baby, to compel them to give 
him up ? Blanche, there is but one way out of the diffi- 
culty ! ” 

“ What would you to have me do ? ” 

“ Give me the right that will permit me to speak in 
your name and in my own I” 

“ Do as you think best ! ” 

We must not separate, the chances of war may part 
us so we may never be reunited. You must be my wife. 
Do you consent ? All has been prepared for a marriage, 
the priest is at the altar, the notary is with his papers in 
the chateau, he can readily change the names for which 
he has drawn his documents. Come, Blanche, come, 
make me the happiest of men ! ” 

Her only response was to open her arms to the comte, 
and an hour later in the chapel where Catharine Lefebvre 
had played the part of a bride, Blanche de Laveline be- 
came the Comtesse de Neip])erg. 

As the last words that made two hearts one fell from 
the lips of the priest, the distant roll of musketry was 
heard and the echoes of the trumpet and the drum, and 
to this accompaniment Neipperg. led Blanche from the 
building towards the group of officers in the park, 
saying: 

. “ Gentlemen, permit me to introduce my wife, Com- 
tesse de Neipperg.” 

They bowed to the ground in their congratulations; 
they wished the newly wedded couple a thousand joys, 
and felt every prosperity must come to a union 
upon so delightful a morning, the morning of a great 
•battle, of a great victory, in a chapel that was so soon to 
be a fortress where the formidable rumble of cannon 
was to drown the alleluia of the bells. 


163 


XXIX. 

THE VICTORY OF SONG. 

It was a brilliant and memorable scene, this morning 
of the 6th of November, 1792; on the heights of Jem- 
mapes a pale, gray light spread over the country and 
disclosed long ranks of armed men, stretching along 
the hills and plains. The great masses of Austrians, 
Hungarians, and Prussians, wearing their showy uni- 
forms, the furred cloaks of the hussars, the tall hats of 
the grenadiers, the half-conical shakos of the infantry, 
the lances, the curved sabres of the cavalry, all spark- 
ling and moving through the dim light; lower down on 
the hills the quickly constructed redoubts, the fences 
to impede cavalry, the hiding-places for the incomparable 
Tyrolean sharpshooters with their pointed hats and a 
long heron feather stuck through the ribbon. 

The artillery, ambushed at the right and left in the 
concealment of the wooded land, showed only when 
here and there the long bronze barrel extended beyond 
the sheltering shrubbery. The position of the Austrians 
was formidable, their right rested on the village of Jem- 
mapes and their left on Valenciennes. On three sides 
were forests, and the centre amphitheatre was protected 
by three rows of redoubts and twenty pieces of heavy 
artillery and three pieces of light artillery to each bat- 
talion, making a total of nearly one hundred cannon. 

The advantage of the position, the incontestable 
superiority of the army, the improved munitions, com- 
manded by such experienced generals as Clerfayt and 
Beaulieu, the power of the well-placed artillery standing 
above the enemy upon whose advancing forces it could 
pour a murderous fire, gave to the generals of the Em- 
pire a feeling of certain victory. 

The Austrian army, well fed, stood on high, dry 
ground with its entire front admirably protected, when 
with the first shafts of a rising sun the cannon boomed 
and began one of the most important battles of history. 

The French had lain all night in marshy ground that 
had been worked into a mushy consistency by the feet 
of the horses and the wheels of the caissons. They were 
hungry and they had no opportunity to eat until they 
reached Mons after the battle. Their stomachs were 
empty but their hearts v/ere full of hope and their 


164 

officers told them they must win their breakfast with 
their victory. 

When the first cannon roared it was a signal for ad- 
vance and along the miles of men every band struck up 
the sublime strains of the Marseillaise, and fifty thou- 
sand voices to the rhythm of the guns and the horns sang 
the martial words of that noble hymn. And the echoes 
from Jemmapes, from Cuesmes, from Berthaimont car- 
ried to the waiting Austrians the grand defiance of 
those heroic words, “To arms, to arms, citizens. Form 
your battalions.” 

It was more than an army in those ranks, it was a 
nation come to the defense of its soil, to the salvation 
of its liberties. Old methods were abandoned in this 
charge, as the sea swept over the dykes so France threw 
her sea of men to the assault of these heights, it was an 
inundation of bayonets and cannon-balls. From a dis- 
tance the French artillery destroyed the Austrian de- 
fenses and then the white army, the volunteers, the 
guards, the countrymen and the laborers of yesterday 
clambered over the opposing cannon, put the artillery- 
men to the sword, broke the squares of infantry, checked 
the cavalry. 

The tried ranks of the Imperial cohorts, the veterans 
of the wars of a dynasty, were cut down, dispersed, 
annihilated by these untried heroes, these sons of France 
who wore the costume of the artisan, whose hands for 
the first time grasped a musket. General D’Harville 
commanded the left and with old General Ferrand, 
charged on Jemmapes and entered the place victoriously 
at noon. Beurnonville attacked at the right. Under his 
orders Dampierre commanded the Parisian volunteers, 
and to these children of the Paris boulevards and fau- 
bourgs belongs th^e honor of carrying the three re- 
doubts. 

They sang the Marseillaise and the Carmagnole as 
they swarmed over the last fortifications of the Aus- 
trians. The troops of the line, the Thirteenth Volunteers 
with Lefebvre, the cavalry and hussars from Berclung 
and Chamborand contributed equally to this decisive 
victory, which preserved France from invasion, delivered 
Belgium, routed the Germans and gave to the republic 
its baptism of glory. 

After the battle the victors ate their supper in the 
house of the vanquished. The hour for breakfast and 


for dinner had passed; the refreshment for the entire 
day was taken in the evening. A major-aide with his 
coat soaked in blood from a wound in the arm, was 
drinking a quiet toast to further successes, when a sol- 
dier, lying near, said. 

“Do you know what we found in the chateau down 
below there where the Austrian headquarters were ? ” 

“ What ? ” 

“A baby.’^ 

“ What do you say ? A baby ! ” exclaimed Rene who 
approached at the moment. “ What did you do with 
it?” 

“ Left it.” 

“You had the heart to leave a baby exposed to the shot 
of a battle ! Surely that is not the act of a French sol- 
dier ! ” Rene said excitedly. 

“You know, sergeant,” the man continued, “ we were 
ordered to advance. We, my companion and myself, 
went into the chateau, which was deserted, we feared it 
might be an ambuscade, so we went in very quietly ” 

“ That was wise,” said the major-aide. 

“ We crept around carefully; we found nothing, and 
then went down to the cellar, there we heard a cry, an 
indistinct cry. We forced open the door, and what do 
you think we found ? A man who, as soon as he saw us, 
said: ‘Save me, gentlemen, I am Leonard.’ And the 
child was there too, and we took them both upstairs.” 

“ Leonard ! You have found that traitor,” said a 
voice, and Catharine Lefebvre stepped forward, having 
entered just at the moment when the soldier was ending 
his narrative. “What did you do ? Shot Leonard, I sup- 
pose, and brought away the child. Where is he, my 
little Henriot? Because it is he, I am sure of it, and 
that rascal stole him for the baron.” 

“ Leonard got away, and the baby ” 

“ You abandoned it ? ” 

“ We had just come up to the court when this man 
Leonard set a match to a barrel of powder left there by 
the Austrians, there w^s an explosion and we were al- 
most killed by the debris that followed.” 

“ My friends,” cried Catharine, “ will you go with me 
and look in the chateau for this child ? Perhaps he is 
still alive ! ” 

“ I am too tired,” replied one soldier. 

“ Wait until I finish this soup,” said another. 

“ To-morrow will do/’ added a third, 


i66 


“ Then I shall go alone,” said Catharine. “ I have 
promised that child’s mother that I would return him to 
her. I shall keep my promise. Stay here and drink, 
and eat, and sleep. Good night ! ” 

“ Madame Lefebvre, I will go with you, if you will let 
me,” said the pretty sergeant. “Two have more courage 
than one.” 

“ Call it three,” said a timid voice, as Violette ap- 
peared. His sabre had lost its scabbard, his clothing 
was cut and torn, he wore upon his head the helmet of 
a vanquished captain of the Imperial dragoons. 

“You will go with us, Violette? It is good ! We 
shall find our little Henriot because it is certainly him 
this cowardly Leonard has had in the chateau. 

As they started to leave the place a tall form barred 
the door, and Catharine with a movement of surprise 
5aid: 

“ Is it you, Marcel ? ” 

“He will go with us,” Rene whispered. 

“ You may need a doctor there; I will go ! ” answered 
Marcel. 

And the four went forth amid the dead, the debris, 
the broken weapons, all that encumbered the glorious 
field of Jemmapes. 

Beneath the ruins of the Chateau de Lowendaal 
Catharine found little Henriot, frightened but happily 
only bruised. 


XXX. 

YEYETTE. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, meanwhile reinstated in the 
army, had been given command of the artillery at 
Toulon, where the English fleet lay, and through the wis- 
dom and judgment there displayed he was named, by 
Dubois-Crance, general of artillery in Vendee. Astounded 
by this stroke of good fortune Napoleon, accompanied by 
Junot and Marmont, left for Paris, where his appointment 
might be confirmed by Minister of War Aubry, who knew 
nothing of military affairs, who was jealous of every one 
about him and who had never been in active service. 

“You are too young to command artillery,” he said, 
when Napoleon appeared before him, 

“We grow old rapidly on the battlefield,” Napoleon 
replied. 


167 


But Aubry was inflexible, and the post went to a favo- 
rite. Napoleon was discouraged and angered and threat- 
ened to go to Turkey, entering the army of the Sultan. 
But before he could put this plan in operation other 
events changed the course of his life. 

On the nth Vendemiaire (October 3, 1795) the elec- 
tors from the different sections assembled at the Odeon, 
and on the 12th the electors of the Bourse section made 
an appeal to arms. General de Menon was ordered to 
disarm and disperse the electors. He charged out of 
the Convent of the Filles-Saint-Thomas to do so. He 
was driven back — the insurgents were victorious. This 
happened at eight o’clock in the evening. 

Bonaparte, at that moment, was in the Theatre Fey- 
deau. Aroused by the noise he went to the Assembly, 
where they were discussing what measures to take. 
Barras had been named as conservator of the peace, 
and he gave Napoleon Bonaparte an appointment, for 
he had known and appreciated his talent at Toulon. 
The next day, the 13th, Bonaparte swept away the elec- 
tors from before the Saint-Roch Church, and was pro- 
moted to be general. 

Thus his star began to rise from this beginning, and 
it shone clear and brilliant in the firmament for twenty 
years, the hope, the glory, the guide of France. 

And yet, notwithstanding his military talents which 
were already recognized, his name was obscure and his 
position precarious. 

Cambon, the great financier of the Convention, an 
upright and spirited man, favorite hero of Michelet, 
said, “We were in imminent danger when the good and 
brave General Bonaparte came at the head of fifty 
Grenadiers and opened a passage for us.” 

The insurrection of the 13th Vendemiaire was upon 
the country. Every one had lost his head, excepting 
those who had been named to save the Convention and 
re-establish order. Barras, charged with full power to 
put down the uprising in the city, looked about him for 
suitable assistants, capable of commanding the troops 
in these days when every one was playing with his life. 

Carnot proposed putting the command in the hands 
of Brune, but Barras objected that Brune knew nothing 
about artillery. Freron, who had seen and fallen in 
love with Pauline Bonaparte, suggested the name of 
Napoleon. The latter was sent for and the offer made. 
“ I give you three minutes to reflect,” said Barras, 


i68 


Bonaparte feared to accept this responsibility, always 
unjust, always terrible. To put down the electors would 
perhaps doom his name to eternal disgrace and infamy. 
He had been unable to lead an army against the 
Vendeans, here he would march an army against 
the Parisians! It was civil war and yet, at heart, he 
sympathized with much of the sentiment of the electors. 
If he were defeated he would be lost, because he would 
be for ever followed by the vengeance of the electors, 
masters of Paris. If he were victorious, he would have 
dampened his sword in the blood of Frenchmen. 

Then he thought quickly of the consequence of refusal. 
If the Convention were dispersed by force what would 
become of the conquests of the Revolution ? The vic- 
tories of Valmy, of Jemmapes, Toulon, Col de Tende, 
the glorious successes of the army of Sombre-et-Meuse 
and of Italy would be useless. The defeat of the Con- 
vention meant the end of the Revolution and the oppres- 
sion of France, the Austrians at Strasbourg, the English 
at Brest, the principles and liberties of the republic 
gone. 

“ I accept,” he replied to Barras. 

It was one o’clock in the morning, the next day the 
victory of the Convention was definite and Barras said 
from the platform: 

“ I wish to call the attention of this Convention to 
General Bonaparte. It is to him, to his wise and prompt 
disposition of the troops that we owe the successful de- 
fense we made. I ask the Convention to confirm the 
nomination of Bonaparte to the post of General of the 
Army of the Interior.” 

Some days later Barras gave the commission to Napo- 
leon investing him with the sole command. It was time. 
Napoleon had but one pair of boots to his feet and they 
were broken and torn, his coat was mended and patched 
in a way that called forth involuntary derision from his 
companions, 

A few days after this he had the courage to present 
himself at the house of Mme. Tallien. 

This seductive and perverse creature, Therezia 
Cabarrus, who had carried the arms of the versatile Tal- 
lien, was thrown into prison on the 9th Thermidor and 
there attracted the attention of Governor Barras, even 
then a personage of the very first rank. In order to 
obtain the influence of Barras and recognizing that he 
must make use of some third party Bonaparte, at the 


169 


end of his resources and without so much as a five-franc 
piece in his pocket, decided to spend an evening with 
the beautiful courtesan. 

^ It required courage and great force of character for 
hirn to dare to enter, in his pitiable attire, into the 
society of these elegant women, these fashionable young 
men and these generous spendthrifts. 

He wore his long hair straight down on either side of 
his face without powder, because he had no money to 
buy it, and a little queue trailing down behind. His 
boots hung together by a miracle, and the breaks 
he had endeavored to conceal by inking them over. 
His uniform was the same he had worn before the 
enemy, glorious, but stained, and a simple piece of 
braid economically replaced the embroidered insignia 
of his rank. ^ 

He appeared so miserable to the triumphant mistress 
of the house, that she gave him a letter to M. Lefeuve, 
director of the army supplies, to the effect that in con- 
formity with a certain decree which provided for proper 
costume for officers in active service, she asked for suffi- 
cient cloth to make Napoleon a new coat. Bonaparte 
•was not in active service and therefore had no right to 
this privilege, but with the protection of Mme. Tallien, 
the decree was stretched to include him. 

As rapidly as some of the characters in a fairy story, 
changes now came into Bonaparte’s position. He was 
installed in the general’s headquarters in the Rue Capu- 
cines. Junot and Lemarois were with him, his uncle he 
had asked to come to Paris to aid him as secretary, he 
sent the first money that came into his treasury to the 
aid of his family, and contented himself with buying a 
new pair of boots and some gold embroideries to em- 
bellish the coat which he had acquired through the 
intervention of Mme. Tallien. 

He used his influence to provide places for his 
brothers, he took Louis as an aide-de-camp with the 
grade of captain, and he requested a consulate for 
Joseph — he sent money to Jerome at college, and 
directed he should be taught drawing and music. 

Reassured in this way of the condition of his family 
and feeling confident that his post was now a permanent 
one because the Convention could refuse nothing to the 
one who had saved them, he gave some thought to the 
idea of matrimony. 

A rich marriage with a woman who would bring him 


a fortune, influence, social position, and efface all traces 
in him of a lower origin, and aid him to keep his new 
rank, this was the end of his ambition. Bonaparte the 
inflexible mathematician, powerful and infallible in his 
deductions, was dominated by a turbulent heart and a 
vivid imagination that often governs the action of men. 
He was in love. 

It was at the house of Mme. Tallien that the general 
of the Vendemiaire met the widow Beauharnais. 

This widow, Beauharnais, was a Creole from the An- 
tilles, one of those adventuresses who encircle the earth, 
sensual, audacious, charming, who rapidly grow into 
favor, and become an influence in the affairs of the 
country. 

She was named Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de la 
Pagerie. She was born on the 23th of June, 1763, in the 
parish of Notre Dame de la Purification at Martinique. 
The father of Josephe, always called Josephine, was 
named Joseph Gaspard, and 'Cultivated a vegetable farm. 

A certain Madame Renaudin, aunt of the young girl, 
secured her a husband, the youngest son of the Marquis 
de Beauharnais, former governor of the lies du Vent. 
The aunt was mistress of the marquis. The marriage 
was decided on without consulting the young man who 
was in Paris, and Josephine embarked in September, 
1779, to go to him. She left the steamer at Bordeaux, 
and some time after married the Vicomte Alexandre de 
Beauharnais, made captain in his regiment of the Sarre 
the day of his marriage. He was eighteen, she sixteen 
years of 'age. Bonaparte at the same time when his 
future empress was making her first marriage, was a 
scholar in the Brienne school, aged ten years. 

The newly wed couple lodged in the Rue Thevenot, 
and there on September 2, 1780, was born Eugene, the 
future Viceroy of Italy. Young Beauharnais about the 
same time was forced to leave his wife and go to Amer- 
ica with his regiment. During his absence, April 10, 
1781, the future Queen Hortense, mother of Na- 
poleon III., was born to Josephine. Up to this time, the 
conduct of Josephine had been irreproachable, but when 
she was left alone in the midst of Paris, young, pretty, 
vivacious, and desirous of seeing life, she became inti- 
mate with a gay crowd that made enjoyment so thor- 
oughly a part of their existence that shortly after the 
return of M. de Beauharnais he applied for a separation, 
which was granted, but allowed Josephine a yearly sum 


171 


of ten thousand francs. So soon as the separation was 
given she decided to visit her native country, and so in 
1791 she returned to Martinique in the society of a gallant 
officer of marines, M. Scipion de Roure. 

She returned to find her husband in an exalted post. 
Vicomte de Beauharnais, deputy of the nobility, was 
one of the most influential members of the Convention. 
He had the honor of proposing on the night of the 
famous fourth of August the eligibility of all citi- 
zens in the civil, military, and ecclesiastical life to 
office and an equality for all classes of citizens. He 
liad been several times elected president of the National ' 
Assembly, and received in his home on the Rue de 
rUniversity a great number of the deputies of which he 
was the chief. 

Josephine, ambitious to preside in a political salon, 
where all the distinguished men of the country sooner 
or later found their way, made overtures of reconcilia- 
tion to her husband which were pleasantly received and 
they again lived together in the Rue de I’University, 
where she ruled like a queen. 

But the Reign of Terror was at hand. Beauharnais 
was made general commanding the army of the Rhine, 
and he laid siege to Mayence, but he was accused of 
treason in 1794, and was guillotined. Four days later 
the prisons were torn open by the crowds and he would 
have escaped. Josephine was, indeed, favored in Beau- 
harnais and Bonaparte — what woman has ever had hus- 
bands worthier love and respect ? 

The revolution gave to Josephine the status of a 
grande dame^ the name of her husband served to give her 
an entree to the court that survived the Terror. In the 
prison where she was cast for a time, she came in con- 
tact with several members of the old aristocracy, and 
there she also made the acquaintance of Cabarrus. At 
the house of Citizen Tallien, the husband, and Barras, 
the lover, Josephine one day met Napoleon. 

Bonaparte had then become a favorite. He was spoken 
of as the young general who at one bound nearly 
reached glory, the salons were open to him, the ladies 
were smiling, he was grave, sombre, indifferent. The 
Widow Beauharnais, witli the nonchalance of a Creole, 
with deliberate manner, with ripened charms, attracted 
Napoleon from the first. She was not beautiful, her 
future brother-in-law, Lucien, uses these terms in ex- 
plaining the impression she made on him; 


172 


“She has very little spirit, and no one could call her 
beautiful, but there is a certain suggestiveness of the 
Creole in the supple undulations of her figure; a face 
without much natural freshness, but which deficiency is 
supplied by her toilette accessories.” 

Josephine was then thirty-two years of age; she was 
the mother of two children, and her excited existence, 
her several voyages, the peculiarities of her domestic 
life, and the love incidents of her career had certainly 
contributed to accentuate her years. 

She vanquished the conqueror at their first interview. 
Bonaparte left the Tallien household with a turbulent 
heart, sparkling eyes, confident he had for the first 
time accomplished the conquest that brought to him the 
greatest glory, that had been the great victory for 
which he had always yearned, a woman’s love. He for- 
got his family, his ambition, in the thought of his charm- 
ing Yeyette, as he familiarly nicknamed the voluptuous 
Creole. 


XXXI. 

MADAME BONAPARTE. 

Bonaparte — whose early life was chaste and laborious, 
who had known nothing of dissipation — was madly in 
love with Yeyette, and it is certain that Josephine in no 
way merited this excess of affection. But the young 
general found in this psychological situation a love that 
satisfied his ideal of woman, and approached very closely 
to the type he had pictured in his mind as being per- 
fect. Josephine had neither an excess of spirits nor a 
superabundance of reserve, but possessed a piquancy 
that enabled her to indulge in repartee that was always 
epigrammatic and frequently was cutting. She took 
great interest in Napoleon’s military accomplishments, 
and was delighted to talk with him of his strategy. 

She had in his eyes an incomparable prestige; was 
she not from an ancient aristocratic family? For the 
little Corsican, brought up in a miserable home and 
who had never known a well-born woman, this vicom- 
tesse personified all that was desirable. Bonaparte, with 
an absolute ignorance of the world, was not able to dis- 
tinguish between a true grande dame and this irregular 
widow, who allured him with her languorous eyes and 


173 


charmed him with her simple, sincere interest in his mili- 
tary affairs. 

Napoleon loved Josephine with an ideal love. His 
fruitless attempts to marry the daughter of the soap 
merchant of Marseilles indicated he was not beyond 
the consideration of a financial alliance. He wanted a 
wife who could preside at a salon, and who would bring 
to him a handsomely furnished home and an established 
position. Josephine presented to him all these advan- 
tages, like the Widow Permon, she was an aristocrat and 
like Desiree Clary she was rich. After his introduction 
at Tallien’s he was invited to the little home of Jose- 
phine at No. 6 Rue Chantereine, and there he found 
what he supposed to be the luxury of a true vicomtesse. 

A pleasant and charming invention, but an absolutely 
inexact story, is that of Eugene Beauharnais, reclaiming 
his father’s sword from the perquisites of Napoleon, to 
whom it was reported to have fallen after the execution. 
The sword of the general would have been sent to his 
wife and the Vicomtesse de Beauharnais being the 
friend of Tallien and living in the society of Barras, 
would certainly have demanded it had it not been sent 
her. 

The home on the Rue Chantereine was modestly but 
prettily furnished and displayed a large quantity of 
bric-a-brac. With Gauthier, her coachman, and Made- 
moiselle Campoint, her femme de chambre, Josephine 
lived here the life of a coquette and in every apparent 
luxury; she had many dresses and few chemises; her 
costumes were all of light material, designed to produce 
youthful effect. 

Bonaparte left the house nightly his mind filled with 
every possible conceit; he wished to present Josephine 
as his wife, as a being he possessed, to enfold her in the 
impetuosity of his caresses. He had looked into her 
personal qualities, her' position in the world, her origin, 
her associations, her preferences, and he found that as a 
wife she would satisfy all his demands. Then he offered 
himself to her. 

Josephine hesitated, knowing her own position to be 
precarious; she wished to be certain that of Bonaparte 
was assured. He could not be entirely unworthy for 
he was favored with the friendship of Bafras. Without 
the influence of Barras it would have been Brune or 
Verdiere who would have had the defense of the Con- 
vention on the 13th Vendemiaire. Would Barras con- 


174 


tinue his protection ? The all-powerful Director might 
look upon the marriage unfavorably. 

Josephine resolved to consult the sensual and cynical 
potentate. She made her attire that night and she went 
to the Luxembourg, the home of Citizen Barras, mem- 
ber of the Directory. 

There was a fete at the Luxembourg when Josephine 
de Beauharnais was announced. She was dressed in 
the newest and most captivating fashion; a robe of some 
light material, vapory and almost transparent, made 
her figure still more enticing and exaggerated the 
beauty of its outlines. She wished not only to attract 
the sensitive eye of Barras, but also to eclipse that 
coterie of beauties he gathered about him and who, she 
knew, would be adorned with flowers, attired in white, 
blue, in Greek and Roman fashion, personating Diana, 
Terpsichore, every mythological character from the 
time of Olympus until the present. 

Whether she refused or whether she consented to 
give her hand to Bonaparte, Josephine was determined 
to maintain her reputation as a woman of the world and 
to show that she had in no sense renounced her sway 
over the empire of beauty and fashion. At the bottom 
of her heart, the interview that she risked, the counsel 
and the aid that she came to ask from the brilliant 
Director, was not merely to interest him in this partic- 
ular case, but she desired as well to attract the favor- 
able attention of one who had already reached the 
highest place in the Republic and seemed destined to 
retain it. 

She might, if she decided to accept, exhibit to her 
rivals her lover, Bonaparte, as a unique individuality, 
as a jewel, as a little savage, but precious withal, and she 
wished to know from Barras whether he would promise 
his aid in her undertaking. • 

Josephine was never publicly the mistress of Barras, 
and yet no woman could resist him; his life had been a 
series of amorous adventures; he was an aristocrat by 
birth, although wearing the cap of liberty, he was the 
Comte Paul de Barras. 

He had been a captain in the armies of the King, a 
member of the Convention, a regicide. President of the 
Assembly, invested with the supreme command on the 
9th Thermidor and the 13th Vendemiaire, he had been 
elected a member of the Directory by a vote of 129 out 
of 218. The Directory was composed of five members, 


175 


selected from a list of fifty members presented by the 
Assembly of the Five Hundred; his colleagues were 
Larevelliere-Lepeaux, who was elected by 216 votes, 
Rewbell, Letourneur, and Carnot. The last of all, 
Barras, was really invested with the actual government 
of the Directory. He was large, robust, and with the 
bearing of a king; in his robes of office he was impres- 
sive. By his presence, by the manner in which he carried 
his head high above all others, by the very gesture in 
raising his hat from which floated three white feathers, by 
the nonchalance with which he sv/ept his lorgnette over 
the visitors’ seats at the Luxembourg, by the manner in 
which his sabre dangled at his side, he was the ideal 
personage for the servile crowd, he was majesty itself 
re-established without a monarchy. This Louis XIV. 
of the Corps de Garde was the king of the Republic. 
Every one served him and every one served his vices; 
his mistresses formed the guard of his lighter life, and 
were rewarded by the fetes he gave them. The people 
were too busy with other things to reproach him for 
his pleasures or his excesses; they had just come out of 
a terrible battle and all ranks of society were forgetful 
of everything else than the efforts to lead a life of peace 
and to make every day a mardi gras. 

Tallien was his favorite, not alone was she mistress in 
title, but the accomplice of Barras, she was his foremost 
agent in social corruption, her role was that of a magnifi- 
cent profligate, she aided the sybarite Director to enter 
the revolution showered with flowers and to succeed in 
creating an orgie from his debauchery of blood. This 
evening they had brought together at the house of 
Barras all of that society which meant elegance, dis- 
tinction, vice, virtue, glory^ indiscriminately com- 
mingled, young generals, old parliamentarians, fashion- 
able women, Madame Angots all petticoats and jewelry, 
savants, the writers Monge, La Place, Volney, all 
crowded into the spacious salons of the Luxem- 
bourg, happy that they survived, desirous to catch up 
with the lost hours, indifferent to the future, intoxicated 
with the surroundings and the beauties of the gathering. 

When Josephine was announced to Barras she was 
conducted to a little salon immediately adjoining the 
cabinet of the Director. Here she waited for some 
minutes when she became aware of a discussion going 
on in the next room, and as the voices became louder 
she heard the words that were uttered: 


176 


“ Why do you suspect Bonaparte ? ” 

“ I believe he is ambitious,” replied a voice she did 
not recognize. 

“Are not you also, Carnot?” responded the first 
voice, which now she recognized as that of Barras. 
“You are jealous of Bonaparte, the plans which he 
arranged for the army of Italy were adopted by the 
Directory in place of yours, and you fear that he will 
reap the glory of the triumph of our armies.” 

“ I knew nothing of his plans,” replied Carnot. “ I 
was ignorant of them, what you say is false.” 

“ Don’t raise your hand to me ! ” said Barras brutally. 
“ It is stained with blood.” 

“ Do you mean that I signed the death warrants ? ” 
shouted Carnot. 

“ Yes, every one of them, you signed them with Robes- 
pierre.” 

“ I signed them without reading them, just as Robes- 
pierre signed my plans of attack without looking at 
them. We have served the revolution each in our own 
way. Posterity will judge us ! ” 

“Judge you to be a drinker of blood! ” Barras replied. 

“ I will leave you to your gold and your voluptu- 
aries ! ” said Carnot. “ But I repeat, I fear the ambition 
of Bonaparte, but if he is named for general of Italy, I 
shall not oppose him. After all, he is a terrorist, a pro- 
teg^ of the Jacobins, a regicide like you and me; if you 
wish to recompense him that is your affair.” 

And the member of the Committee of Public Safety 
left the room slamming the door behind him. Barras 
lifted the portiere and stood before Josephine. 

“ To what happy circumstance, my beautiful Vicom- 
tesse, do I owe the pleasure of your call and the agree- 
able surprise of a private audience ? ” 

At heart Barras was disturbed, he had not disdained 
the passing favors of the seductive Creole but they had 
never been anything other than occasional and capri- 
cious. Josephine was always short of money, without 
resources, without relations. He on his side had been 
flattered by a conquest of an old aristocrat, the widow 
of a president of the Constitutional Assembly, of a 
general-in-chief of the glorious army of the Rhine. 

Josephine with a little hesitation confessed the object 
of her visit : 

“ I think I shall get married again, my dear Director, 
what do you think of it?” 


177 


I certainly think you could make some one very 
happy. But who is the fortunate man you have 
selected ? ” 

“You know him, Barras ! He is General Vende- 
miaire.’* 

“ Bonaparte ? A smart fellow, an officer of the high- 
est ability. If you had seen him as I did on his horse 
in the cul-de-sac Dauphin right in the mouth of the 
cannon of the electors at Saint Roch, you would have 
been convinced that he is a brave enough man to make 
a good husband. He is fearless. I stood beside him 
when the electors fired on him like the devil,” said 
Barras in an enthusiastic manner. 

“ That is good,” answered Josephine. “ He will make 
a good father then for the orphans of Alexandre de 
Beauharnais, and a husband for his widow.” 

“ Do you love him ? ” 

“ Frankly, Barras, no, I do not love him, not with real 
love.” 

“ Well, have you any longing for him ?” 

“ He has no objectionable feature to me, nothing to 
displease me. Love is a fad, Barras. It pleases the 
crowd, I want counsel more than fervor.” 

“ Well do you want me to order him to marry you ? ” 

“ No, I only want your advice. I admire the courage 
of Napoleon, and he saved us on the 13th Vendemiaire.” 

“ He has protected the Convention and defeated the 
faction that is against the Republic, he gained by him- 
self alone in Paris a battle in the streets that was more 
savage than any battle in the fields.” 

“ I realize he is a superior man and I appreciate 
his knowledge of all things, the vivacity of his spirit, his 
thoughts and his ambition.” 

“ He has an eye that is commanding ! ” said Barras 
with gravity and earnestness. “ The first time I saw 
him I was strangely struck by his appearance, I saw a 
man beneath the ordinary height, exceedingly slender, 
almost thin, his hair peculiarly Cut hanging down over 
his ears and touching his shoulders. Oh, he is by no 
means one of the fops of the day. His dress is not of 
that style, you know the coat he wears, buttoned up to 
his chfn, decorated with a little dirty gold braid, and 
the tricolor feather in his hat. At the first sight his 
face didn’t strike me as being attractive, but the more I 
saw it, the more pronounced I found its characteristic, 
his eye was ever active, his expression animated and 


178 


every change in his features indicated an ardent soul, 
his forehead high and broad showed me he was a 
profound thinker, he speaks quickly and briefly, 
and although he expresses himself incorrectly at some 
times I have found his ideas, to be sublime. He is a 
man, Josephine. A true man, a valiant man who will, 
perhaps, be among our greatest heroes. Take him, 
Josephine, that is the counsel of a friend I give you, a 
good friend, believe me.” 

“Then you advise me to become his wife ?” 

“Yes, and in time you will love him.” 

“ Do you believe it ? I just care a little for him now.” 

“You are not alone in that; all my colleagues care a 
little for him; Carnot, a terrorist and a drinker of blood 
and accomplice of Robespierre, he detests him, but it is 
because he is jealous of him.” 

“ I believe he loves me, but, Barras, between friends, 
and in a little burst of confidence, you know I have 
passed my first youth and I cannot hope to retain 
for a very long time this violent tenderness he feels for 
me now.” 

“ Don’t give yourself any uneasiness on that account.” 

“If after we should become united he should cease to 
love me and should neglect me and should repent of his 
^delusion, and regret that he was not married to a 
woman more brilliant, younger, what could I say to 
him ? What could I do ? I should simply cry.” 

“ Now, why do you imagine such unhappiness ? Why 
suffer a misery before it comes ? Bonaparte is the best 
man in sight. Are you superstitious? If so, believe in 
him, because he says he has a star.” 

“ I am superstitious, for I am from Martinique. A 
negress fortune-teller there, whose prophesies the entire 
neighborhood declares have always been realized, pre- 
dicted once that some day I should wear a crown, the 
crown of a queen. I cannot very well see Napoleon a 
king and I sitting on his throne.” 

“ No, but, perhaps, you can divide with him the glory 
that will surround the commander-in-chief of the gran- 
dest army of the republic.” 

“ What do you say, my dear Barras ?” Josephine de- 
manded in impulsive surprise. 

“ I say that you may be the happiest of wives, you 
may be the most beautiful queen of the beauties of our 
Republfc if you marry Napoleon, and as a wedding pres- 
ent from me, your old friend, believe me I will drop 


179 


a jewel into your marriage basket that will brin^ about 
the fortune of the general who has defeated the insur- 
gents.” 

‘‘ Truly ! What then ? A headdress of gold set with 
diamonds, such as you gave to the beautiful Madame 
Tallien ? ” 

“ Better than that, it shall be his commission as com- 
mander-in-chief of the army in Italy. But come, they 
will notice my absence from the fete,” and Barras play- 
fully took Josephine’s arm beneath his own and re- 
entered the salon. “ Let me be the first to congratulate 
Bonaparte on his marriage and on his new command.” 


XXXII. 

THE SWORD OF THE PYRAMIDS. 

Bonaparte was named general-in-chief of the army 
in Italy on February 23, 1796. Rewbell was the only 
Director to oppose the appointment. 

On the 9th of March, that was some days later, the 
marriage of the general with the Widow Beauharnais 
was celebrated. 

Two days after the ceremony he started for his com- 
mand, and he carried with him into Italy the passionate 
love for Josephine that inspired him the first moment 
he met her. No day passed without his writing her 
amorous epistles, a little emphatic in expression but 
eloquent and sincere. Harassed by work, wearied by 
the labor of preparing a campaign he was to fight the 
next day, the young general, in the midst of his pre- 
occupations and the dangers that multiplied with the 
hours, never failed to put upon paper his loving phrases 
which marked the. intensity of his affection, and de- 
spatched each day and each night by the couriers who 
* carried to Paris the bulletin of a new victory and to bear 
the flags captured from the enemy, flags that were laid 
upon the altar of his country in a grand ceremony pre- 
sided over by the all-powerful Directors. 

And that fete of victory which he ordained should be 
held on the Plateau of Rivoli, that day of patriotic re- 
joicings he gave to Paris when his friend Junot presented 
the Austrian standards to the Convention, was an idea 
created for the glorification and grandeur of his Jose- 
phine. On that day this insignificant and sensuous 


i8o 


Creole was the queen of France; before the troops, in 
the face of the enormous assembly of citizens, to the 
sound of cannon, and of bells clanging out the alleluia 
of victory, she leaned on the arm of Junot and was 
saluted as the friend, the companion, the representative 
of the hero whose name was shouted to the skies from 
an hundred thousand throats. 

Carnot, at the altar. on the Champs de Mars, delivered 
an oration wherein the victorious young general was 
compared to Epaminondes and Miltiades. Lebrun, the 
national poet, led a choir singing the great hymn: 

Amid the goblets brimming to our glory, 

How Bacchus triumphs with celestial glance, 

Come drink, my lads, for vict’ry lies before ye — 

The conquests that ne’er fail to our fair France. 

All Paris did homage to Napoleon and his bride, and 
yet she refused to hasten to Italy where he passioiiately 
called her. Her delay prompted the most foolish re- 
solves on his part; he threatened to abandon his com- 
mand and return to her in Paris and so seriously did 
he speak of this that finally she consented to join him, 
and with a heavy heart she set out on her journey. 

On the 5th of December, 1797, after the ratification of 
the Treaty of Campo Fornio and the military Conven- 
tion that met at Mayence and Manheim, they returned 
to their little home on'the Rue Chantereine, which was 
renamed Rue Victoire in honor of the general, and there 
they soon realized the dangers of popularity and of the 
unique position he held in the republic. 

It was proposed to present him with the Chateau de 
Chambord, that marvelous work of Renaissance art, as 
a national gift. He refused it, as he likewise refused all 
distinctions that were offered him. He would accept 
only the title of general-in-chief of the army in England, 
and he prepared a plan of campaign which was publicly 
announced to have for its object the invasion of Great 
Britain, In reality he had decided to strike this enemy 
of France and the Republic where she was most vulner- 
able— in her colonies— and he selected the route to them 
through Egypt 

On the borders of the Nile he expected new laurels, 
and his imagination was fed by the legends of this 
fabulous country. His plans were gigantic and chi- 
merical and he had in his mind not only the conquest of 


Egypt, but of Syria, Palestine, Turkey his entrance as 
Leader of the Cross into Constantinople, the taking of 
Europe on his return with a vast army of fellahs. 
Bedouins, Turks and the peoples of Asia ’Minor. He 
would conquer all opposing armies, he would create a 
new map of the world, and by his victorious sword he 
would make new kings and new nations. 

Bonaparte, before he left for Egypt, had outlined in 
his mind the fantastic dream of a grand western em- 
pire, although at the same time his calmer thoughts 
prompted him to leave Paris and again take the field. 
He saw the jealousy of the Directory was being 
aroused and Rewbell, an honest but incompetent man, 
had been induced to suggest that Napoleon had mis- 
appropriated certain sums captured in Italy. The 
Directory at the same time overlooked the enormous 
values in money, statues, paintings, spoil of all kinds 
that each month the victorious Bonaparte had sent to 
Paris. 

His plans were finally arranged for departure and on 
May 9, 1798, he embarked at Toulon. Before setting 
forth he addressed his troops in words filled with hope 
and dwelling in promising language 'on the splendor of 
the country they went to conquer: 

“ Soldiers, you know you have not yet done enough 
for your country, and you know your country has 
not done enough for you. I take you to a land where, 
by your future exploits, you will surpass those upon 
which your fame rests to-day and will render to your 
flag a service that will give you the right to the title of 
Invincibles. I promise to each soldier returning from thi§ 
expedition that he shall have sufficient to buy six acres 
of ground.” 

The campaign in Egypt, with its legendary incidents, 
the soldiers jokingly demanding in the desert of Gizeh 
whether it were there the general had promised them 
their six acres, the almost fabulous victories, the naval 
disasters, the revenge of Aboukir, all make a tale more 
wonderful than any that was created for the Sultan’s 
amusement in the “ Thousand and One Nights.” 

On the 15th of October, 1799, Bonaparte disembarked 
at Trejus and marched towards Paris, followed by the 
applause of the crowds. He was their hero, their savior, 
their god. 

Bonaparte had gathered about him a brilliant and 
valorous staff, Lannes, Murat, Berthier, Marmont, Cam- 


1^2 

baceres, Fouche and Talleyrand. His two brothers, 
Lucien and Joseph, worked actively for him; Lucien had 
become a member of the Five Hundred. 

On the 9th of November, 1799, at six o’clock in the 
morning, all generals and superior officers, called to- 
gether by Napoleon, assembled at his home on the Rue 
Victoire. There were present six adjutants of the 
National Guard, Moreau, Macdonald, Murat, Serurier, 
Andreassy, Berthier and Bernadotte in civilians’ dress. 
There was only one important general absent, and 
Bonaparte asked anxiously: 

“ Where is Lefebvre ? Why is he not with you ?” 

At the same moment General Lefebvre was an- 
nounced. 

The former French guardsman, the husband of Sans- 
Gene, the lieutenant of militia, the captain at Verdun 
and in the army of the North, had become general 
commander of the 17th Military Division and Governor 
of Paris. 

From captain of the Thirteenth Infantry at Jemmapes, 
he had been named chief of a battalion, chief of minor 
brigade and finally general of brigade in the army of the 
Moselle, under the' orders of his friend Ploche. On the 
loth of January, 1794, he was promoted to be general of 
division and commander of the immortal army of Sambre- 
et-Meuse at the death of Hoche. After having commanded 
the army of the Danube, he was a candidate for the 
Directory, but failed of election because of his ultra 
republican principles and his military preferences. 
Named to the command of the army of Paris, Lefebvre 
Became the most useful and the indispensable instrument 
of Napoleon in carrying out his ambitious plans. 

But he was not aware of the plans of the future mas- 
ter of France at this moment. When summoned by 
Napoleon he had mounted his horse and galloped quickly 
towards Paris. It was midnight when he was notified of 
the meeting, and as he rode to the conference he was 
surprised to see the cavalry stationed through the streets 
and conscious he had given no orders for such a dispo- 
sition. 

Arriving then in ignorance of the momentous action 
to be soon taken he was greeted by Napoleon : 

“ Welcome, my dear Lefebvre, how are you ? And how 
is Catharine ? Always with her heart in her hand and 
her reply ready, I warrant. Madame Bonaparte com- 
plains of not seeing her often.” 



“ WIIEKE IS LEFEL5VKE? WIIV 18 HE NOT WITH YOU?” 




My wife is not well, thank you, General,” Lefebvre 
replied. 

Bonaparte continued: 

“ See, Lefebvre, you are one of the brave men, one of 
the preservers of the republic. Here let me give you 
the sword I captured beneath the shadow of the Pyra- 
mids; I give it to you as an evidence of my esteem and 
my confidence,” and he held towards Lefebvre a mag- 
nificent sword, its hilt set with precious stones, the for- 
mer cimetar of Mourad Bey. 

It was the sword of the Pyramids. 

Lefebvre buckled it proudly to his belt and the i8th 
Brumaire was accomplished. 

The evening of that day was decisive; it changed the 
destinies of France. 


XXXIII. 

THE DANCING-MASTER. 

Quietly, cautiously opened the door of an elegantly 
furnished bedroom in the palace of Saint Cloud. 

A maid looked discreetly into the apartment before 
she entered, and then she stepped lightly over to the 
great bed, surmounted by a' ducal crown and hung 
with two heavy curtains of plush. Parting the hangings 
slightly with her hand she whispered in ^ low voice : 

“ Madame Marchioness, Madame Marchioness, it is ten 
o’clock ! ” 

Then a strong voice sharpened slightly with temper 
answered : 

“ In the name of God, can’t you let me sleep peace- 
fully! ” 

“ Excuse me, Madame Marchioness, but the Madame 
desired that she should be awakened at ten o’clock ! ” 

“ What, already ten o’clock ! Ah, how lazy I have be- 
come. I had better habits once, when I was a washer- 
woman; I got up early then; so I did when I was in the 
regiment, at the canteen. I never waited to hear the 
clock twice before I was on my feet. But now that I am 
Madame Marchioness I don’t like to get up. All right, 
Lise, give me my wrapper ! ” 

While the maid was moving about the room Madame 
Marchioness, sitting up in bed, swore at her like a 
trooper because she could not find her stockings where 


184 


she had thrown them the night before. Lise searched 
diligently, but without success, and irritated beyond 
control, the Marchioness in bare feet and short night 
dress jumped upon the floor and scurried round. The 
stockings were found, and the Marchioness threw her- 
self petulently upon the bed while Lise drew them on 
her legs. 

The events of the past two years had changed not 
only the face of the world but the destiny of the people. 
The obscure artillery officer of Toulon, the poor client 
of the washerwoman, had become commander-in-chief. 
First Consul and Emperor. 

France in the midst of martial activity and the waving 
of its flag had made itself the centre of Europe, had 
made itself a vast camp that was lighted by the rays of 
the superb sun of Austerlitz. The prediction of the 
fortune-teller, Fortunatus, in the salon of the Vauxhall 
had been realized by Lefebvre and his wife. Rapidly 
passing to the highest ranks the former sergeant of the 
French Guards, more fortunate than his comrade Hoche, 
had survived the terrible period of the Revolution. We 
have seen him, on the i8th Brumaire, general of division 
and commander of Paris, blindly following the fortunes 
of Bonaparte. Since then the favor of the First Consul 
and of the Emperor had never for a moment failed him. 

In 1804 Napoleon restored the ancient dignity of the 
Marshals of France, and Lefebvre was the first to be 
invested with'this great post. At the same time he was 
elected to a place in the Senate. But Lefebvre was a 
Senator only by the influence of Napoleon. He was 
considered the bravest general in the field, but he was 
also considered the most ignorant in the Senate, the 
most incapable when his pen was in his hand. Napoleon 
thought and Lefebvre executed, he was the shell in the 
cannon, the Emperor was the force. Lefebvre would 
drive directly ahead with an irresistible power under an 
impetus nothing could withstand. It was he in the 
grand army, who had the honor to command the Impe- 
rial Footguard, that legion of giants. 

Lefebvre was riot only an extraordinary warrior but 
an exceptional husband. He was the same to Catharine 
as if his uniform had never changed, and the great eagle 
of the Legion of Honor that covered his breast had in 
no way interfered with the impetuosity and openness of 
his heart. They jeered at the conjugal fidelity of these 
two excellent married people in the Imperial court, but 


Napoleon, who held to an apparent severity of manners 
in his entourage, congratulated Lefebvre and his wife on 
the example they gave to the household of the other 
officers of his empire, an example which was seldom fol- 
lowed, least of all by the Emperor himself. 

The Emperor, however, occasionally made some 
questionable observations to Lefebvre on the vivacity 
and freedom of the Marchioness. 

“ Excuse me,” he said, as he playfully pinched Le- 
febvre’s ear, “ but mention to your wife not to raise 
her skirts quite sq high at the receptions as though she 
were about to give a dance at the Vauxhall. You see 
we are nolf all the time indulging in sport and my 
court is not that of Pere Duchesne. And then, just one 
more suggestion, you won’t mind now, Lefebvre ? ” 

“ Certainly not, sire,” responded the Marshal, be- 
cause he recognized the justice in everything the 
Emperor said. 

Well, it is this, your wife is all the while quarreling 
with my sisters, with Elisa particularly. Now, my 
court is not a drinking saloon where one expects to 
hear females wrangling.” 

“ Sire, Madame Bacciochi constantly reproaches the 
Marchioness with her humble origin, her republican 
principles and her patriotic expressions. Certainly you 
and I are republicans.” 

“Without doubt,” said Napoleon, laughing at the 
expression of Lefebvre who, like many of the old 
soldiers of the army of ’92, thought they were serving 
the republic in fighting for the Emperor. To these 
simple and valiant soldiers, Napoleon was the revolu- 
tion crowned. 

“Lefebvre, my old comrade,” replied the Emperor, 
“ tell the Marchioness it is my desire that she should 
try and get along with my sisters as pleasantly as pos- 
sible.” 

“ Sire, I will deliver to the Marchioness the observa- 
tions of your Majesty. I promise you she will conform 
with them.” 

“ If she can,” murmured the Emperor, “ I hope I am 
not demanding the impossible, but the first instinct of 
all of them is to quarrel.” And then walking rapidly 
down the passage, he turned into his room saying 
beneath his breath, “ What folly it is for a man to 
marry while he is a sergeant.” And as the door closed 
behind him, he continued, “ but my fault is almost equal 


iS6 


to Lefebvre’s. He married a washerwoman, and I 

humph ! A divorce can remedy that, but” 

As if to escape from his thoughts, he took from the 
pocket of his white coat a pretty iittle enameled box and 
opening it he enjoyed the odor of the fresh tobacco 
within. He never smoked. Once only he tried it, and 
that was when the Ambassador from the Porte pre- 
sented him with a superb Turkish pipe, and he had only 
taken a few puffs when he rushed to the window for 
fresh air and as soon as he recovered from his nausea 
and wiped the smoke from his eyes, he exclaimed, 
“ Take away that infection ! the pigs I ” and he un- 
ceremoniously sent the pipe back to the* astounded 
Ambassador. From that time no one ever dared sug- 
gest smoking to him. 

After having refreshed his mind by the scent of the 
tobacco, Napoleon, as if impressed with a grave thought, 
stepped from his room again and called to Lefebvre. 

‘‘ I think it would be well for your wife to take some 
lessons from Despreaux, the dancing-master. He is 
familiar with all the best traditions of ceremony and 
elegance at the old Court.” 

Lefebvre concurred in the suggestion of Napoleon and 
at once upon leaving the Emperor asked that Des- 
preaux should be sent to him. 

The dancing-master was a distinctive and interesting 
person. Small, thin, quick, gracious, smiling, powdered, 
nervous, he had passed through the Terror in his dan- 
cing-shoes without receiving so much as one spatter of 
blood. When the moment of revolt had passed, when 
pleasures began again and the doors of the salons were 
thrown open to society, Despreaux became an indis- 
pensable man. 

He Restored a lost art, he was the single repository 
of polite tradition, of the complicated mazes of the 
dance .which for the young people offered fabulous 
joys and a paradise of pleasure. With his pirouettes, 
his courtesies, his twirls, he effaced the souvenirs of the 
Revolution and initiated the new regime into the 
ceremonies of the old. 

It was on the occasion of Despreaux coming to the 
palace of the Marchioness Lefebvre that she had 
left orders to be awakened at ten o’clock, after re- 
turning late the night before from a soiree given by 
Josephine. 

She found the professor of elegance and graces 


i 87 

practicing some new steps before the mirror in her 
waiting-room. 

“ Ah ! you there, M. Despreaux, and how is your 
health ? ” she said in a lively tone, seizing his hand, 
which he had not extended and shaking it violently. 

Despreaux, flushed, astonished, abashed, because the 
marchioness had interrupted him in his second move- 
ment of the grand salute which he had just devised, 
withdrew his hand from the grasp of Madame Sans- 
Gene and smoothing down the laces around his wrists, 
he bowed coldly and responded : 

“ I have the honor of being at the disposal of Madame 
Marchioness.” 

“ All right, little one,” Catharine exclaimed, sitting 
down on the edge of a table, “ the Emperor finds 
there are not enough good manners in his Court ; he 
says we are not distinguished ; you understand what he 
wants, don’t you, my boy?” 

Despreaux, irritated by the familiar tone of the mar- 
chioness, responded in his squeaky little voice : 

“ His Majesty is right in saying his Empire has 
the charms and the elegances of a police court. I am, 
Madame Marchioness, the respectful interpreter of his 
wishes. Do I understand you desire particularly 
to acquaint yourself with the art of the world that 
will give satisfaction to His Majesty ? ” 

“ That’s it, that’s just the thing, old boy. There is to 
be a great ball of the Court on Tuesday and they are 
going to dance a gavotte ; it’s going to be danced right 
under the very eyes of the tyran — the Emperor, I mean, 
and I want to learn it, right off.” 

‘‘ Madame Marchioness, the gavotte is a very difficult 
thing ; it is hard to understand ; it has very many 
changes. Perhaps you know how beautifully it was 
danced by Madame la Dauphine ; I had the honor of 
being her professor.” said Despreaux, with modesty. 

“ Well, we will try it now. And, say, the Emperor 
knows I don’t dance it half badly; he often used to see 
me dancing the gavotte when I was washing his clothes, 
but its Lefebvre that insists upon you teaching me. Go 
on, now get your place for the gavotte.” 

And Madame Sans-Gene tapped twice on the floor 
with her right foot as if she were calling an opponent at 
a fencing contest. Despreaux imperceptibly raised his 
shoulders and sighed ; to him the disappearance of the 
aristocracy was mournful and the vulgarity of the time 


i88 


made him weep at the loss of good manners. To teach 
the gavotte to washerwomen who by the grace of 
victory had become powerful ladies, was to him a dis- 
grace. He approached Catharine with impatience and, 
taking his place at her right side, asked : 

“ Have you ever danced, madame ? ” 

“ Often, at the Vauxhall ! ” 

“ I don’t know it ! ” said Despreaux, compressing his 
lips until his mouth took on an appearance of great 
severity. And what dance did you enjoy there ? The 
courante, the pavane, the passe-pied, the trenis, the 
monaco, the minuet?” 

No, the fricassee ! ” 

Despreaux could with difficulty suppress a sob as he 
said : 

‘‘The dance of laborers and washerwomen.” 

“ 1 danced it with Lefebvre ; that’s the way we got 
acquainted and engaged.” 

The professor of elegance, with a melancholy expres- 
sion he could not repress, thought to himself, “ In what 
sort of a world am I thrown, I, the dancing-master of 
Madame la Dauphine ? ” 

And with a sort of concentrated sadness he began his 
instruction to Catharine Sans-Gene of the elements of 
that noble dance which Napoleon wished to introduce 
at the fetes of his Court. 

XXXIV. 

THE CLAP OF THUNDER. 

Catharine was exhausting herself in waving her 
arms, extending her joints, bending and drawing back 
her feet in cadence to the shrill squeaking of a fiddle 
on which Master Despreaux was executing a little tune 
of Paesiello’s, when the door was opened violently and 
Lefebvre appeared. 

He was in full-dress uniform, covered with embroid- 
ery and wearing a huge plumed hat. Napoleon re- 
served to himself the right to wear the little plain head- 
gear in which posterity always sees him represented 
with the gray great coat, whether on horseback or 
pillar, asleep in bivouac, or wounded before Ratisbon. 

The golden eagle on the breast of Lefebvre’s coat 
sparkled with diamonds, the great crimson sash of a 
Marshal of France, tasselled with gold, crossed his chest. 


189 


Lefebvre appeared to be violently agitated : 

“ That’s the way things go,” cried he as he entered 
the room, and like a drunken man, haggard, and with 
convulsed features, he threw his ’hat on the floor and 
shouted : 

“ Long live the Emperor ! ” 

Then he ran to his wife, kissed her and clasped her 
to his bosom. 

“ In heaven’s name ! what’s the matter ? ” said 
Catharine. 

Master Despreaux, interrupting the agile step which 
he was demonstrating to his refractory pupil, came for- 
ward flourishing his leg. 

“ Is the Emperor dead. Marshal ?” 

For reply Lefebvre delivered a vigorous kick which, 
catching the dancing-master in the lower part of his 
back, caused him to pirouette after a fashion not pro- 
vided for by the laws of the terpsichorean art. 

Despreaux recovered his position and saluting grace- 
fully, said : 

“ M, le Marshal made a remark ? ” 

‘‘'Keep cool, Lefebvre, keep cool ! Tell us what has 
happened ? Despreaux asked you if the Emperor were 
dead. That surely can’t be ? ” 

“ No, of course it can’t ! The Emperor can’t die, the 
Emperor will live for ever. It is quite a different affair, 
Catharine. We are going away ! ” 

“ Whither, husband. — I mean M. le Marshal,” said 
Catharine, glaring ironically at the dumbfounded 
Despreaux. 

“ I don’t know where we are going, but we’ve got to 
be there, and quickly, too. I fancy to Berlin.” 

“ That’s a long Journey, isn’t it ? ” asked Catharine 
simply. She was not strong in her geography. 

“ I don’t know,” answered Lefebvre, “but our jour- 
ney is not long for the Emperor ! ” 

“ And when do we start ? ” 

“ To-morrow ! ” 

“ So soon ? ” 

“ The Emperor is in haste. These Prussians have a 
hard cheek, the Emperor never did them any harm. 
Once before they came to invade France with the 
Austrians, the English, the Russians, the Spaniards, all 
the nations of the earth ! Well, they were pardoned ! 
It seems it was a petty state, but there were a good many 
intelligent men there. The Emperor liked them. He al- 


ways spolce well of a man by the name of Goethe, a fellow 
who wrote for the newspapers. He would have made 
a count of the rascal if he had been a Frenchman, just 
as he would have made a prince of a chap called Cor- 
neille, a Rouen boy, only he’s dead.” 

“ And so the Emperor intends to thrash these 
Prussians ? ” 

“ Yes, and strange to say, he thinks it will be a dif- 
ficult job. These Prussians are nothing to us ; this 
country can scarcely be said to exist. The Emperor 
insists it will be a glorious war — well, he knows 
best. ’ It’s his business, after all, not mine. Our busi- 
ness is to strike for him, — whenever he shows us an 
enemy to demolish that enemy. But, all the same, I 
feel humiliated at drawing my sword against a pitiful 
little nation like the Prussians. There is no credit in 
crushing such weak adversaries.” 

“ Pardon me. Marshal, but these Prussians have had 
Frederick the Great for their king, and every year they 
celebrate the victory of Rasbach,” Despreux ventured 
to remark, keeping a prudent distance, however, for fear 
of getting another hoist from the Marshal’s foot. 

Lefebvre shrugged his shoulders. 

“Rasbach? don’t know it; ancient histor)^ I suppose, 
besides the Emperor wasn’t there. Where he is, victory 
is; he is never beaten.” 

“ That’s true,” said Catharine, “ what a man he is, to 
be sure ! . Do I go with you, Lefebvre ? ” 

“If you like, as far as the frontier. The Emperor is 
taking the Empress along. It’s just a military prome- 
nade — a simple promenade. Ah, Catharine, this war 
breaking out so suddenly will be like a thunderbolt from 
a clear sky. Have you seen Henriot ? ” 

“ He is waiting to attend you, as you desire.” 

“ Good, I will present him to the Emperor. This sud- 
den war may help to advance him. Go fetch him ! ” 

Catharine started to obey, Despreux, always willing,’ 
offered his services and hastened to the door in advance 
of Catharine. 

“ Pardon, fair lady,” said he. 

He had no time to finish, a violent kick caught him in 
a tender part, and Lefebvre’s voice rolled out ; 

“Will you clear out, d — n you, we are soldiers here, 
not acrobats ! ” 

Despreaux departed, rubbing the small of his back, 
cursing the rough manners of soldiers and regretting 


the days when he taught deportment to Madame la 
Dauphine. 

Catharine brought a young sub-lieutenant in the 
^ room, Lefebvre ran to him and wringing his hand 
violently, said : 

“ Henriot, good news ! ” 

“ What news, godfather ? ” 

“ War ! ” 

“ Who is going to fight, and where ? ** 

“ You young jackanapes, you may not be there, I must 
speak to the Emperor for you. Do you imagine 
everybody may have this honor of dying for the Em- 
peror. However, I trust you may be admitted to that 
privilege.” 

Henriot delighted, cried out : 

“ Oh, thank you, godfather ! When will you present 
me to His Majesty?^’ 

“ Immediately; there is to be a review of the Imperial 
Guard, you shall come with me, and my wife shall 
speak for you to the Empress.” 

“Yes, I’ll go and find Josephine at once. You shall 
go, my boy, I promise you that.” 

A roll of drums was heard under the window. 

“ Come, make haste,” said Lefebvre, “ the Emperor is 
mounting his horse, the review will soon begin.” 

And he dragged off young Henriot, while Catharine, 
ringing the bells, crying out, overturning Lise and two 
other women who came to answer the loud calls, finished 
dressing to visit the Empress. 

This was in September, 1806. « 

The French Empire covered two-thirds of Europe, 
Napoleon upon a thron^e built of trophies and banners 
ruled over nations and kings. Opening the session of 
the legislative body he had said, truly: 

“ The Royal House of Naples has ceased to reign.. 
Her crown is lost for ever. The Italian peninsula is 
reunited to the great Empire. I, as supreme chief, have 
guaranteed to the rulers and to the constitutions which 
govern the different parts of that Empire, their ancient 
rights and laws. I am happy to say my people have 
done their duty. From the depths of Moravia I have: 
not ceased to receive testimonies of affection and en- 
thusiasm for France, and that affection I glory in far 
more than in the extent of the Empire and its wealth.” 

At this height of glory and power Napoleon seemed 
to be stricken by vertigo. • He committed the folly^ 


the mistake, of giving kingdoms to his brothers instead 
of making allies dnd feudatories of the native sovereigns 
by leaving them to the government under his aegi. He 
was a victim of family affection and heaped honors upon 
people who were ungrateful in misfortune and obstruc- 
tions in prosperity. 

Joseph Bonaparte was King of Naples and the two 
Sicilys. Louis was King of Holland. 

Elisa, the maiden of Saint-Cyr during the first epi- 
sodes of this history, was Princess of Lucques and 
Piombino. 

Caroline, Mme. Murat, became Grand Duchess of 
Berg. 

Pauline, widow of General Leclerc and remarried to 
Prince Borghese, was Duchess de Guastalla. 

All the sisters of the Emperbr were jealous and quar- 
relsome ; not one was satisfied with the lot assigned to 
her by that all-powerful brother. 

“ It seems,” said Napoleon, half in jest and half in 
anger, “ as if I had deprived them of a part of their 
heritage from the late King, our father. 

The campaign of 1806, which was just beginning, 
served to increase and accentuate the rivalries and envy 
of the Imperial family. 

The war broke out suddenly. 

The victory of Austerlitz should have decided Prussia 
to preserve its neutrality. If she wished to attack the 
colossus of the West she should have done so when 
Austria, Russia, England, Switzerland and the two 
Sicilys were her allies. To do so now was folly. 

Her da'ring was the work of the most unfortunate 
self-confidence and of the most perilous illusion. 

Her statesmen, her philosophers, her schoolmasters 
with Fichte at the head went about everywhere preach- 
ing war and crying, “ Down with France ! ” 

With an infatuation of which we have since, by 
strange reversal of things, given example, her military 
men declared themselves ready, equipped, invincible. 
The people, excited by the speechmakers, forced on by 
the students and the ballad-makers, spoke of nothing 
save the Great Frederick and boasted in their beer 
cellars to make another Rasbach under the walls of 
Paris. 

The Prussians were forgetful they had a country 
unprotected by mountains and which Napoleon could 
readily invade and into which -the French army could find 


193 


an easy route, and could throw itself upon the imperfectly 
organized corps of the Prussian army. But Prussia was 
blinded ; she had persuaded her people that this was to 
be a nartonal war ; patriotic pamphlets had been dis- 
tributed in lavish profusion ; they aroused, enthused, 
intoxicated the nation, and so effectively that it has 
been said in this campaign of 1806 Napoleon found him- 
self for the first time confro'nted, not by paid fighters 
obeying more or less a mercenary discipline, but a 
nation in arms resolved to dispute the advance of a 
stranger on its soil. Vanquished in 1806 as was France 
in 1814, Prussia lost its battles, but preserved its honor. 

When Marchioness Lefebvre entered the salon of the 
Empress she was animated with an irrepressible excite- 
ment. The news of the declaration of war was known, 
and each citizen anxiously asked his neighbor when the 
Emperor had arranged to depart. The Marchioness 
spoke for all when she asked the Empress for this infor- 
mation. 

“ I know nothing,” Her Majesty replied, “ His Majesty 
has told me simply I am to make preparations to leave. 
I shall go with him as far as Mayence.” 

“ Lefebvre has told me to go with him, also,” said the 
Marchioness. “ 1 always take pleasure in being with the 
soldiers. Ah, Your Majesty, it is very hard to be con- 
tented in a palace ; I much prefer a bed in the camp. 
But do we leave to-morrow, or to-night ? ” 

“ How can I say ? ” answered the Empress, tossing her 
head. “ You know how the Emperor acts, — decides quick- 
ly, secretly, as if he were going to leave the next minute, 
and no one knows wheii he really intends leaving. All 
the world waits on him. He goes when it pleases him. 
He has told me to be ready. I am ready. When His 
Majesty gives the word I shall walk down stairs, step 
into my carriage and that is all I know about it.” 

Oh we are used to this tap of the drum,” responded 
the Marchioness. “I do want to know whether Your 
Majesty has seen the Emperor this morning and whether 
his humor is good.” 

“ You have something to ask of him ? ” 

“ Yes, Madame, I have an adopted son, young Henriot, 
a nice boy, now twenty-one years old and already a 
second lieutenant. He wants authority to accompany 
Lefebvre.” 

“ If it would give you any pleasure, my dear Mar- 
chioness, I will take your protege in to my service.” 


194 


Many thanks, Your Majesty, but it is in battle, not 
in the ante-chamber that Henriot would gain his stripes. 
It is not for nothing that he is the son of Lefebvre.” 

“ Ah, well, we will see he has an opportunity to be 
killed, if that is his great envy.” 

“ Your Majesty is too good,” said Catharine, delighted 
with the promise. Her adopted child, the son of Neip- 
perg and Blanche de Laveline, would attain glory and 
serve the Emperor. 

The sound of echoing shouts, mingled with the loud 
roll of the drum and the shrill notes of the trumpets, 
interrupted their further discussion and called both 
ladies to the window. In the court the Emperor re- 
viewed the Grenadiers of the Guard. Beside him rode 
his generals, destined to command grand armies and 
lead them to great victories : Lefebvre, Bernadotte, 
Ney, Lannes, Davout, Augerau and Soult. Mortier, 
commander of the reserves in Westphalia, and Murat, 
commander-in-chief of the entire cavalry force of the 
nation, marched past the Emperor at the head of this 
troop of heroes. 

After having minutely inspected the men, as was his 
custom, the Emperor stopped before the drum-major of 
the Grenadiers, tall and dignified, wearing a high hat 
surmounted by a gigantic plume, his baton raised in the 
air, ready to give the signal for a burst of music, and 
the Emperor said: 

‘‘What is your name?” 

“ Violette, sire !” responded the man in a mild voice. 

“ You have seen service ? ” 

“ Always, sire ! ” 

“ Good ! ” said the Emperor, who was ever attracted by 
quick, brief replies. “ Are you acquainted with Berlin ? ” 

“ No, sire.” 

“ Do you want to go there? ” 

“ I go where my Emperor wills.” 

“Very well, Violette, prepare your trumpets and 
bugles; in one month you shall be the first man, with 
baton high in air, to enter the capital of the King of 
Prussia.” 

“ We shall enter it, sire.” 

“ Violette, how tall are you ? ” Napoleon demanded 
abruptly, looking with astonishment at the former aide 
to the cantiniere, who had certainly grown consider- 
ably since he had become drum-major to the Grena- 
diers. 


195 


“Sire, I am five feet, eleven inches.” 

“ You are as tall as a tree ! ” 

“ And you, my Emperor, are as great as the world ! ” 
said Violette, filled with joy in talking with Napo- 
leon, and unable to contain the expression of his en- 
thusiasm. Napoleon smiled at the compliment, and 
turning to Lefebvre, he said : 

“ Call my attention to this drum-major on some other 
occasion,. Marshal.” 

Lefebvre saluted. The Emperor continued his in- 
spection. On a signal from the Marshal, the drums 
burst forth, the trumpets rang out and the Grenadiers 
of the Guard, that phalanx that did so nobly at Jena, 
Eylau, Friedland, and Waterloo, marched, superb, in- 
vincible, terrible before their impassable god,, who 
stood with his hands clasped'behind his gray coat. 

And as the baton of Violette was lowered to stop the 
drums and the bugles, a great cry went up from this 
forest of men, strong and upright as a forest of oaks, a 
cry that might have been heard in that distant Prussia 
where they were to follow their victorious master : 

“ Long live the Emperor !” 

Napoleon with a slight blush of pride crossing his 
sallow face, said to Lefebvre, in a loud voice : 

“ I think that my cousin, the King of Prussia, is 
rather late in repenting of having provoked me. With 
these followers, I would make war on God Himself, 
were He even at the head of His legions of archangels 
commanded by Saint Michael and Saint George. Mar- 
shal, embrace your wife. We leave to-night.” 


XXXV 

THE COMMITTEE OF THE RUE BOURG L’ABBiS. 

In the centre of Paris is the Rue Bourg I’Abbe, one 
of those tortuous passages peopled by. a colony of 
workingmen in single rooms, and where the light of day 
is rare and the humidity is persistent. On the same day 
the Emperor passed his Grenadiers in review at Saint 
Cloud, there might have been seen in that street at 
nightfall seven or eight people leaning against the walls, 
gliding cautiously through the smoky passage to reach 
a gloomy building whereto was attached a sign to the 
effect that it was occupied by a cabinetmaker. 


196 


The mysterious shadows of men disappeared one by 
one in the doorway of this place and the portal was 
closed quietly behind them. By eight o’clock, eighteen 
men were met together in the large room, which was 
furnished with a small table and a plain wooden chair 
and lighted by two chandeliers. 

Some one in a loud voice said: 

“ Citizens,” and the person who spoke was a young 
man clothed in the uniform of an army surgeon, “ if you 
are ready, we will open the meeting. We have the min- 
utes to read and the* reports to hear.” 

“Yes, we will begin. Open the meeting, Marcel,” 
responded one of the number, and his remarks were in- 
dorsed by the voices of all the otjiers. 

Marcel, the major-aide at Jemmapes, approached the 
table, struck upon it twice with a paper cutter and said 
gravely: “ Comrades, the meeting is opened.” 

All the members present arose, an^ throwing aside 
their cloaks, exposed to view their uniforms as officers 
of the army. Marcel looked over the assembly saying: 

“ Comrades, I will call the roll,” and taking a sheet of 
paper from his pocket he rapidly called off the names of 
those in the room : Florent, Guyot, Ricord, Baude, 
Blanchet, Gariot, Delavigne, Baudemont, Bournot, 
Jacquemont, Ricard, Liebant, Gindre, Lemarc, Poilpre, 
Rigomard, Bazin, Demaillot, Guillaume, Louvigne and 
Marcel. 

“ Present,” each responded to his name. Marcel then 
took another paper and read : “ Minutes of the meeting 
held on the first Friday of August, 1806.” 

During the reading of this document let us glance 
at the personages . assembled in this strange place 
at the end of a court in the lower extremity of the 
Rue Bourg I’Abbe. It was the monthly reunion of 
the Philadelphes^ a secret society that had been founded 
by Joseph Oudet, who was known by the name of Philo- 
poemen as several of the members passed under classic 
names, Cato, Spartacus, Themistocles and similar con- 
ceits. The majority of the society were originally 
republicans, but foreigners, royalists and agents of the 
English government had gradually become associated 
with it so they, at that time, constituted a very respect- 
able minority. 

The object of the Philadelphes was to bring about the 
assassination of Napoleon. 

The association originated in the Jura and was brought 


197 


into existence under the title of the Alliance, its recruits 
coming largely from the army ; the unhappy Moreau 
who, having gloriously served France and immortalized 
himself by his fine retreat from Germany, perished 
shamefully in the ranks of the enemy ; the traitor 
Pichegru became an active member. Based on an 
invitation of the Society of the Philadelphia — the name 
of an organization in Philadelphia, United States, — this 
association had its ramifications in England, America, 
Russia and Italy. It also affiliated with other secret 
groups, mostly military, the Miquelets of the Upper 
Pyrenees, the Barbets of the Alps, the Bandoliers of the . 
department of the Franche-Comte, the Freres-Blanc and 
others. 

The ostensible purpose of the Philadelphes was mutual 
aid, encouragement of friendly relations and reciprocal 
support. The assassination of the Emperor was not 
disclosed in the initiation to be the final object of the 
society, and as the members were divided into three 
ranks, those in the third rank were alone made 
acquainted with the grand secret. The members of the 
first and second degree knew nothing of the matters of 
the third. The Supreme Chief, or Censor, was elected 
by selection from a list of twenty-five candidates pre- 
sented to the three grades successively. At each grade 
ten names were taken off, so when the list reached . 
the third grade there remained but five to consider. 
One condition only was imposed as a qualification for 
this office, the chief must be a military officer. 

The emblem of the Philadelphes was a star somewhat 
similar to that of the Legion of Honor. Extraordinary 
precautions were taken to conceal the meeting-places 
of the society, for at this time, when we find the con- 
spirators come together in a shed-like building in the 
Rue Bourg TAbbe, the police of Fouche or those of 
Dubois, were striving to apprehend some one member 
of this vast organization, which had its influence in all 
the regiments of the Empire. 

Colonel Oudet, or Philopoemen, was thirty years of 
age; he was an elegant and courtly gentleman, his counte- 
nance was gracious and pleasing, his manners were gal- 
lant; under the air of an apparent preoccupation he 
made himself peculiarly popular with the ladies, but he 
was cold and uncompromising in the hatred he bore for 
Napoleon. He was absent from Paris upon the occasion 
of the meeting which was now in progress, an order 


198 


having reached him to rejoin his regiment at Besan9on 
in view of the imminent war and the cencentration of 
the French troops. 

The higher circle, or third-grade members, who Avere 
meeting upon this night embraced some of the most em- 
inent republicans who had fought Valiantly against the 
King in ’93. Marcel having served in the wars of the Re- 
public and of the Consulate, retained the sentiments 
which then inspired him. He attributed the results that 
had followed the war to the tyranny of Bonaparte, and 
although he opposed the conflicts of later years, he 
performed his duty to the wounded on the field of 
battle with zeal and devotion. We have seen he did 
not hesitate to accompany Catharine Lefebvre when 
she went on her adventurous mission among the ruins 
of the Chateau de Lowendaal, and we have also seen 
he was happy when he restored little Henriot, saved 
through his efforts. Marcel wanted a universal repub- 
lic founded on fraternity and peace, where all men, 
laying down their arms would exchange the products 
of their common labor and celebrate their joyous 
fetes together. With these sentiments he was among 
the first to join the JPhiladelphes; he became its secre- 
tary and was known by the name of Aristotle. 

When the minutes had been read and adopted 
without observation, Marcel gave his attention to the 
correspondence of the society. This, he declared, was 
interesting and came from many parts of the world, 
from new members in many regiments that were re- 
garded as the most enthusiastic in their devotion to the 
Emperor. The agitation the society had carried on was 
having its effect, the mothers of families, startled at the 
repeated conscriptions which every year robbed them 
of their children, urged their husbands to join the ranks 
of the Philadelphes. The press speechless, the orators 
mute, gave greater force to this secret propaganda; the 
country was ripe for independence. 

As the suppressed applause, moderated in fear that 
some agent of police was within hearing distance, died 
away after the reading of these communications, the 
door of the apartment opened, and a man, still young, 
of easy manners, wearing powdered hair with the 
coquetry of a patrician, entered saluting with dignity 
the comrades there assembled. He wore a long tail 
coat buttoned up to the chin, and he held in his hand a 
cane with a golden head. 


199 


“ Citizens,” said Marcel, indicating the new arrival,, 
‘‘permit me to present to you our companion Leonidas, 
who comes to us recommended by our chief, Philopoe- 
men, he who will, perhaps become the Washington of 
France. He will tell you this occasion is favorable to 
make an end of the tyrant.” 

“ The time has never been so favorable ! ” exclaimed 
the new-comer, “and I will tell you wh)^, comrades, I 
will give you the reason : war has been declared ! ” 

“ Approach, comrade Leonidas, and explain your plan 
to the Philadelphes” said Marcel, at the same time giv- 
ing him the only chair that was among the slender fur- 
nishings in the meeting-room of the committee on the 
Rue Bourg TAbbe. 


XXXVI. 

THE PLAN OF LEONIDAS. 

Leonidas in his fluent way described briefly the proj- 
ect to the higher circle. 

He began by making a passionate attack upon Napo- 
leon ; he reproached him with immeasurable ambition, his 
dreams of conquest, his Corsican origin, his proclivities as 
a bandit. He would not venture to question his genius as 
an organizer, or contest his talents as a military leader, 
but he dwelt with unconcealed admiration upon Moreau, 
Massena, Bernadotte, all the generals who added to the 
torrent and to the great works that were carrying 
Napoleon forward to glory. He declared the time was 
propitious and they could not fail finally to beat down 
the tyrant and restore liberty to France. 

The war had begun. At the head of a formidable army 
Napoleon would quickly force his way over the plains of 
Westphalia, of Hanover, of Brandenbourg. He would 
rest there, it would be important he should not leave 
the turbulent Prussians and return to Paris expecting 
this distant country would remain quiet without his 
hand to force it. Such being the case news from the 
capital would reach him rarely and it would take long 
in travelling. Before that time a revolution would be 
successful. 

“Yes,” shouted Leonidas with energy at the risk of 
being overheard by any police agent who might be 
^bout; “it is not necessary Napoleon should be really 


200 


dead; it would be sufficient if news to that effect were 
circulated in France; the rumor that the Emperor was 
dead coming in the universal excitement of the war 
would overthrow the Empire,” 

“ Bravo, Citizen Leonidas,” said one of the members, 
“then you would profit by the absence of the Emperor 
to noise about the report of his death, but what part 
could you take to put down the anarchy which such an 
announcement would call forth in the country?” 

“ All that is provided for,” Leonidas calmly replied, 
and continued : 

“ A decree will be rendered by the Senate which will 
invest me with the command of the army in Paris. 
General Massena will be charged with the duty of 
commander-in-chief of the armies engaging the enemy. 
The National Guard, by another decree, will be reor- 
ganized and General LaFayette will be made com- 
mander-in-chief.” 

“And what have you decided for the interior?” 

“ Our Senate has prepared itself to name a provisional 
government.” 

“ Their names ! Give us their names ! ” Marcel 
exclaimed. 

“They are citizens Garat, Destutt, de Tracy, Lam- 
brecht. General Moreau, the former member of the Di- 
rectory, Carnot ; these will constitute a part of the pro- 
visional government to be presided over by a military 
man.” 

“Who is he?” 

“ I shall be President.” 

“ Good ! and this government you propose to call 
republican ? ” 

“ What other regime for the country do you expect we 
would support?” and Leonidas looked severely at the 
Marquis de Louvigne who had put the question. “ We 
shall abolish the conscription ; we shall exclaim to the 
whole of France ‘You shall have greater rights’; we 
shall declare to Europe it shall be peace, not war ; we 
shall have no more levies of men ; France shall enjoy 
in peace the fruits of its glory and the advantages of its 
alliance with the other nations. That is what we offer to 
the people. Delivered from the tyrant, we will pro- 
claim a new Republic, once more erect the statue of 
liberty.” 

As the speaker finished, he was rewarded by applause 
and the members gathered about him extending their “ 


201 


hands in congratulations. Marcel resumed his post as 
director of the debate, and said : 

“ Citizens, there has been made clear to you, put prac- 
tically to you the plan of our companion Leonidas who 
has given it with the approbation of our censor Phili- 
poemen — do you wish to adopt it ? ” 

“ Yes, yes ! ” shouted several voices. 

“ He should tell us now the date that has been fixed 
upon for the day of the execution.” 

“ That date,” said Leonidas, “ is a secret, an absolute 
secret. At the last moment you shall know it, do you 
accept ? ” 

“Yes, yes! Death to the tyrant! Down with the 
Emperor ! ” 

“ My friends, I feel I owe it to you that you should 
know something of me. I have given you the names 
of all the members of the provisional government, save 
one alone, mine. I owe it to you that I should com- 
plete the list.” 

There was silence in the room, every one leaned for- 
ward in the intensity of their curiosity to learn the 
name of this audacious conspirator who imagined he 
could encompass the death of the Emperor, hoped to 
seize the supreme power, intimidate the Senate, rally 
his forces and dispose of the army as he wished. 

“ Philadelphes,” said Leonidas, with great simplicity, 
“ I was born at Dole on the 28th of January, 1754, I am 
therefore fifty-two years of age, my father was a chev- 
alier of Saint Louis and at sixteen years I was made 
a soldier. I commanded a detachment at the fete of the 
confederation, I controlled the square of Besan^on, I 
was made a general of brigade of Italy, where I served 
under my friends Championnet and Massena; I have 
always defended my country; I have loved my liberty. 
My name is General ” 

At this instant, a violent knocking was heard at the 
door;'it was thrown wide open, and a youQg man rushed 
in saying hurriedly, but in a whisper : 

“ Quick, quick ! Leave here, comrades.” 

“ What is it Rene ? ” Marcel exclaimed, approach- 
ing the '"youth who was none other than Rene, the 
pretty sergeant of the battalion of Mayenne-et-Loire, 
and the faithful companion of the major’s aide. 

“ You will be lost ! If you stay here one second more 
voii will be taken, the agents of Dubois are right on my 
I'lcels.” 


\ 


202 


Marcel sprang towards the centre of the room, where 
he lifted a trap in the floor, saying to his companions : 

‘‘ We can get out this way, it leads us into the cellar 
of a friend, an ally, and from there we can reach a 
house on another street. Quick, the tyrant will look 
for us some time longer before he can find this retreat. 
Long live the Republic! ” 

“Death to the Tyrant! Down with the Emperor,” 
repeated the Philadelphes. 

Marcel held the trap until all his companions had 
gone through it, one by one. Rene waited until the 
last, saying to Leonidas : 

“After you. General.” 

A moment more and Marcel had closed the trap, while 
the conspirators were in the darkness groping their way 
towards freedom. As they passed along through the 
narrow path Marcel said to Leonidas : 

“ Pardon, we interrupted you just at ,the moment you 
-were going to give us your name. Perhaps you will be 
kind enough to let me have it now that I might put it 
in the minutes of this meeting.” 

“ True,” replied Leonidas, and then, speaking so all 
the others could hear him, he pronounced his own 
name and title : 

“ General Malet! ” 


XXXVII. 


THE GLORY OF THAT TIME. 

The war was begun. Napoleon had prepared for it 
with extraordinary prudence, great circumspection and 
many precautions. Prussia, on the contrary, with an 
infatuation tj:iat we later understood, relying upon its 
earlier military fame all glorious in the souvenirs of the 
Great Frederick, misled by its politicians, dazzled by its 
military leaders who declared, in other words but in the 
same pompous manner of our own Marshal Leboeuf 
sixty-four years later, that they would not leave a button 
of the Grenadiers, was permeated by a spirit of impru- 
dence and mistake. 

A council of war was held on October 5, 1806, at 
Erfurt, under the presidency of King Frederick William, 


203 


the Duke of Brunswick, Prince of Hohenlohe, Marshal 
de Mollendorf, the cabinet ministers; the general officers 
participated in the conference which continued through 
two days. 

It is easy to gain battles on plans of campaigns that 
have been fought and where the faults of the enemies 
have been tested and the chances have been known so 
as to take advantage of them. Without committing the 
error too often of fighting a battle after it had been 
decided, and planning where a victory might have been 
won on a lost field, it is certain the Prussians com- 
mitted one great fault at the opening of their war. 

' Wise counsel might have prevailed at this conference, 
but Queen Louise assisted at the deliberations while 
resting on the fauteuil of the King. She was the evil 
genius of Prussia. She murmured in the ear of the 
King her indignation that any thought of bowing to the 
French should be considered while they still possessed 
the grandest army of Europe, the army of Rasbach. Did 
not the people, filled with enthusiasm and animation, 
cry, “ On to Paris ! On to Paris ! ” all through the 
streets of Berlin ! And the students in their impassioned 
orations with which they each night entertained their 
beer-garden crowds of bellicose companions,declared the 
country invincible ! The philosophers, the writers, the 
thinkers, in the laboratories and the libraries, urged the 
extermination of the French army and the conquest of 
the old provinces of the Lotharingians. 

They must advance in the face of the enemy ! The 
first victory would open the road to Paris. And the 
Queen said: 

“You hesitate, sire ! The people will think you are 
afraid ! ” 

The King feeble, undecided, who could perhaps even 
yet have stopped hostilities, held to a pacific policy and 
wished to control the fervor of Queen Louise, but she 
represented at the Council of Erfurt the national im- 
prudence, the popular passions which were so wonder- 
fully overwrought and she echoed the sentiment of that 
nation of fanatics. 

The advance was decided upon. In an insulting and 
brutal note Prussia demanded that France immediately 
withdraw her troops to the other side of the Rhine, and 
set the latest date for this retreat to be October 8. 

Berthier, Major-General, delivered the note to Na- 
poleon. 


204 


‘'Very well,” said the Emperor, “we will appoint a 
meeting with the King and keep it. Instead of beijig in 
France on October 8, we shall be in Saxony.” 

The next day, October 8, the army entered Saxony in 
three columns, and Murat at the head of the cavalry 
struck the opening blow. 

It was the battle of Schleiz. The Prussian General 
Tauenzien had the Twenty-seventh Regiment under 
General Maison, and the Ninety-fourth and the Ninety- 
fifth Regiments of the line from Drouet’s division. 
Murat with the Fourth Hussars and the Fifth Chas- 
seurs led the charge himself and won the first victory 
of the war. 

A second battle was fought on the loth at Saalfield, 
where Prince Louis of Prussia was killed and the vic- 
tory allowed Marshal Lannes to march on to Jena. 

The Prussians were panic-stricken, the streets of the 
little university town of Jena were crowded with fugi- 
tives, the bridges over the Saale were obstructed by 
baggage wagons, fleeing artillerymen, ambulances filled 
with wounded. The flight continued as far as Weimar. 

On the 13th of October Napoleon appeared before 
Jena. Soult and Ney joined him later in the night; 
Murat placed his cavalry so as to make the first dash 
into the city; Bernadotte was stationed between Jena 
and Naumburg, at a little town called Bornburg, where 
a bridge crossed the Saale. Marshal Davout was sta- 
tioned at Naumburg, and ordered to give his entire at- 
tention to the army of the Prince of Hohenlohe. Di- 
rectly before the gates of the city Napoleon threw his 
camp, having as support Lannes and his division. In the 
centre of a square made by four thousand troops, Na- 
poleon pitched his tent, and that memorable spot has 
since perpetuated its fame in the shape of a small settle- 
ment called Napoleonsberg. 

Then with a prodigious activity, possible with no other 
military chieftain who ever led armies to conquest, Na- 
poleon began to make roads over which he could drag 
his artillery into an advantageous position. With a torch 
in his hand, he personally directed the work of the en- 
gineers and went from one point to another, tirelessly 
giving his own direction for the removal of the enor- 
mous rocks and the leveling of the trees that stood in the 
way of his cannon. Working with brain and hands 
harder than any of his assistants, he gave every evi- 
dence of his fatigue, but refused to seek repose until he 


205 


fired the first cannon with his own hand and saw an 
entire battery throwing its shells into the city. 

Before the bivouac fire, sitting with a leg thrown over 
either side of his camp-stool and his hands clasped be- 
hind him, Napoleon slept for a few hours in the midst 
of a circle of his soldiers and the noise of the heavy ar- 
tillery. Victory hovered above the Grand Army on its 
invisible wings and protected the sleep of the great 
soldier. 

When he opened his eyes a dense fog hung over the 
plain, and accompanied by men carrying torches that it 
might be possible for him to find his way along the 
strange paths, Napoleon went to the front of his troops. 
There he spoke to them with energy and with his ac- 
customed vigor, he told them he wished to cut the 
Prussian line in two, to separate it from the Rus- 
sians, and he wished to make this day an echo of the 
glories of Austerlitz. The cry of, “ Long Live the Em- 
peror,” given by Lannes, was to be the signal for attack. 

The 14th of October, 1806, saw a double victory — Jena 
and Auerstadt. 

At Jena, where Napoleon commanded in person, the 
victory was for one moment jeopardized by-a false move 
on the part of Marshal Ney. 

At Auerstadt, where Davout was disappointed in not 
receiving aid from Bernadotte, the divisions of Friant 
and Morand arrived at an auspicious moment and 
determined the victory. Bernadotte allowed jealousy 
of the part given Davout to play, to irifluence him in 
following the absolute letter of Napoleon’s order to 
guard his position at Dornbourg and declined to go to 
the reinforcement of Davout. It was here that Bruns- 
wick was killed and Marshal de Mollendorf was danger- 
ously wounded. 

This double and glorious conflict of the 14th of Octo- , 
her completed the panic in the Prussian army, the rout 
was complete ; the cavalrymen of Murat sabred the 
fugitives up to the walls of Weimar. But for the inac- 
tion of Bernadotte not a Prussian soldier would have 
been left the next day to tell the tale, and Napoleon in 
his generous spirit said of Davout; “He is entitled to 
partake of the glory.” 

The night of the battle Napoleon making the tour of 
the field stopped at the furthermost point and looked 
with pensive sadness upon a heap of bodies that marked 
the spot where the Prussian cavalry made its valiant 


2o6 


charge. His aide-de-camp in answer to a question told 
the Emperor these were the men of the Thirty-second 
Regiment, and Napoleon moving up to the frightful 
mass, raised his hat and said: 

The Thirty-second, always the Thirty-second. They 
are buried in Italy, in Egypt and now in Germany. 
They are brave men! ” 

He continued his round of inspection, and as he -was 
about entering the village of Auerstadt, he passed a 
small farm that had evidently been the centre of a 
lively engagement for many dead bodies lay about and 
the ground was strewn with broken muskets and swords, 
the garden of the little house was trampled into the 
dirt and the farm was a prairie of desolation. Before 
the door of the building there stood a tall grenadier, as 
though he were mounting guard over a deserted home 
and a neglected graveyard. Under his arm he held a 
long cane and his figure and his face looked familiar to 
Napoleon as he drew nearer to him. When within 
speaking distance the Emperor recognized the man and 
exclaimed : 

“ What the devil are you doing here, drum-major ? ” 

The drum-major, thus a,ddressed, drew himself up to 
his full height, lifted his baton in the air and making 
the proper military salute to his general, he answered : 

“ Sire, I am waiting for reinforcements.” 

“Yes; but you are the drum-major of my Grena- 
diers ; your name is Violette, isn’t it ? ” 

“Yes, sire, it is I, en route for Berlin, as Your 
Majesty has ordered.” 

“ It is well ! We shall go to Berlin, my brave boy, the 
road is open to us now. But why do you speak of rein- 
forcements ? ” 

“ Sire, it is impossible for me to take away all my 
prisoners alone.” 

“ Your prisoners ! What prisoners ? ” 

“ Prisoners I have made; they are there in the house. 
I have shut the door and I am guarding it.” 

“ You have made prisoners, you ? ” 

“ Yes, sire; a squad. I captured them with my baton; 
they are red dragoons who had dismounted here and 
they surrendered to me because they probably believed 
I had a whole regiment behind me; then I told them to 
go into the house and I have kept them there. That is 
how it happened, sire.” 

One of the officers attending Napoleon had entered 


207 


the building during this conversation, and now he re- 
joined tlie suite saying that Violette had told but 
a portion of the truth for he had imprisoned in the 
building sixty dragoons, who had thrown down their 
arms and begged that their lives be spared. Napoleon 
from his horse looked with an air of good humor and 
amusement into the haughty face of Violette, and said : 

“ Come here.” 

And pinching Violette’s ear,- he said : 

“ Who permitted you, a drum-major, to make prison- 
ers of war? I will attend to you.” 

And raising his voice, he called to his aide : 

“ Rapp, come here.” 

Rapp moved his horse alongside of the Emperor, and 
Napoleon, placing his hand upon his aide’s breast, took 
therefrom the cross of the Legion of Honor and reach- 
ing towards Violette, he pinned it on his coat, saying : 

“ Drum-major Violette, you are a brave man. 
Wear this symbol of your bravery. Rapp, see that the 
prisoners are taken into Jena.” 

And without waiting for the thanks of the new 
chevalier, Napoleon put spurs to his horse and con- 
tinued on his rounds. 

Violette, resting his hands on the baton, pensively 
regarded the shining cross upon his breast. 

“ I am not a coward ; I am brave ; the Emperor has 
said it.” 


XXXVIII 

LEFEBVRE SEEKS INFORMATION. 

Returning to his headquarters Napoleon directed 
Rapp to summon Lefebvre to him. Then making a 
sign to his secretaries who, with their portfolios on their 
knees, were prepared to take down his words, he began 
to dictate, walking up and down the confined space 
and interrupting himself every now and then to take a 
pinch of snuff from the open box that lay upon the 
table. 

Write,” said he to the first secretary: The corps 

of Marshal Davout has done prodigies, the marshal has 
had his hat cut by an enemy’s sword, his horse wounded, 
and he has received a number of Prussian bullets 
through his coat. He has shown himself to be distin- 
guished for bravery and possessed of the most exalted 


2o8 


character that a warrior can hope for. He has been 
ably seconded by Generals Gudin, Friant, Morand, Deul- 
tanne, and by the rare intrepidity of his courageous 
men. The results of the battle are from thirty to forty 
thousand prisoners, from thirty to forty and perhaps 
sixty captured flags, 300 pieces of artillery, and immense 
stores of ammunition and supplies. We learn from de- 
serters, from prisoners, and from others that the disorder 
and consternation in the remnants of the enemy’s army 
are great.’ ” . 

Napoleon ceased dictating. With him it was impos- 
sible to write, his hand ran over the paper as rapidly as 
his thoughts coursed through his brain.. It resulted in 
an entanglement of letters that made his words unintel- 
ligible even to himself. The labor of his secretaries was 
arduous, Bourrienne, Fain, Menneval, by force of habit, 
by the strictest attention, by losing sight of themselves 
entirely, had trained their minds to follow the Emperor 
in his feverish compositions. 

As was his custom, Napoleon then gave the first 
secretary an opportunity to copy off his notes and 
passed on to the second. 

“ This is to be the fifth bulletin from the Grand Army,” 
he said. “ It is to be sent to the newspapers,” and he 
used the last word with a sarcastic accent, resuming his 
restless walk across the room and beginning again his 
dictation : 

“The Queen of Prussia has several times come within 
sight of our outposts. She appeared to be greatly 
excited and in continuous alarm. The evening before 
the battle at Jena, she reviewed her regiment and was 
constantly complaining to the King and his getierals. 
She wished for blood, the blood of the most precious in 
her kingdom. The most capable generals of their 
country, Brunswick and Mollendorf, were the first 
victims of her battle. ” 

The tone of Napoleon was sneering ; it was the 
expression of contempt for the Queen of Prussia rather 
than the relation of his victory over a sovereign enemy. 
He stopped and hesitated in his dictation as though he 
were searching for a word, as though his habitual 
fluency had deserted him and he strove to properly con- 
struct his phrases. The secretary, surprised at this 
unusual interruption lifted his head and looked at the 
Emperor anxiously. Could he be suffering ? Could 
some sudden blow have struck this invulnerable man 


209 


who knew no fatigue, no hunger, no thirst, no sleep, 
no idleness ? 

Napoleon caught the eye of his secretary and as if 
understanding the mute question, he said quickly: 

“ Write, write, monsieur: ‘ The Emperor is resting at 
the Palace of Weimar, where he and the Queen stopped 
several days before the battle. All they have said of the 
Queen is true, she has a pretty face, but little spirit, and 
is incapable of anticipating the consequences of her 
mistakes. It would be cruel to-day to become her ac- 
cuser, because she is suffering the remorse of the evils 
she has brought upon her country through the influ- 
ence she exercises over the King, her husband. He is 
an honorable man, who wishes nothing better than peace 
for his people.’ ” 

Again Napoleon paused, but this time because an 
officer entered the tent quietly and evidently not wish- 
ing to interrupt the secretaries. The new-comer showed 
his participation in the conflict for his uniform was torn 
by shot and the decorations on his mantle were burned 
b)’^ powder. He hesitated at the entrance, waiting until 
the Emperor should have finished his dictation, but 
Napoleon advanced to him at once with a cheerful greet- 
ing, shaking his hand warmly he said: 

“ My old friend, Lefebvre, we haven't done badly 
this time, what do you think ? ” 

“ Sire, with you and my Grenadiers, we could not do 
otherwise.” 

“ The Imperial Guard that you commanded has done 
admirably.” 

“ The Imperial Cavalry that Bessieres commanded has 
done superbly,” said Lefebvre. 

“You have all done admirably,” replied Napoleon, 
“ and I wish you would say to the Grenadiers this 
evening, ‘ Soldiers, you have pleased the Emperor.’ ” 

“Thanks sire, thanks ! That will be sufficient. Do 
you know, sire, that the Guard made fourteen charges 
without a single repulse. And, sire, you gave me your 
sword of the Pyramids, and now look at it, it is like a 
corkscrew.” 

“ Good, good, to replace your sword, we shall give 
you a rapier. You already have a baton.” 

“ I do not -understand: Will you explain, sire ? ” 

“ Why, you have already the baton of a marshal.” 

“ That’s true, but the rapier ? ” 

“Ah, Lefebvre, you are slow of comprehension. Now 


210 


hear what I say, you were there at the entrance wh-en 
I was dictating this note concerning the Queen of 
Prussia.” 

“ Yes, sire.” 

With the liberty of a soldier, who should always 
speak the truth,” said Napoleon with some emphasis, 
“ I want to know what you think of it, Lefebvre ? ” 

“ Well, sire, I would not make war on women, and if 
I were in your place, I would allow the. Queen of Prus- 
sia to rest in peace.” 

“ She has made this war, is she not responsible for 
my brave men who sleep there without a tomb in the 
vajleys of Jena, in the streets of AuerstMt ? ” 

“ The Prussian people demanded the war.” 

“ The Queen set them the example,” Napoleon 
answered, spiritedly, “ The shopkeepers, the workmen, 
the laborers, the artisans looked upon the war with 
terror. Yes, it was a coterie of women and of young 
officers alone that made this possible; there is not a man 
of sense from Paris to Berlin who had not recognized 
the end of this affair.” 

“ It is true the Prussians should have considered 
whether they could have battled against Napoleon, 
Lannes, Ney, Davou't, Soult, and should not have for- 
gotten my Grenadiers.” 

“ Some lay the unhappiness of Prussia to the visit of 
the Emperor Alexander. The changes that have ap- 
peared in the spirit of the Queen, from a timid and 
modest woman occupied with the affairs of her house- 
hold to have become a turbulent and warlike character, 
has been credited to the impression produced upon her 
by the attractive Alexander.” 

“ Do you believe the Queen is in love with the Czar? ” 
She has certainly tried to please him, she has taken 
command of a regiment, she has assisted in the councils 
of war, she has led her husband around by the nose and 
she has brought her throne to the edge of a precipice. 
Oh, woman ! woman ! What unhappy advisers you 
have been for sovereigns ! Return to your firesides and 
leave it to men to wield the sceptre and the sword. 
Wait a moment, Lefebvre.” And turning back to the 
secretaries, Napoleon continued : 

“ Now add this note to what you have already written, 
‘ There has been found in the stores of the cities and in 
the dwellings of the country people, an engraving that 
has excited much laughter’” 



ii 


All, IT IS DANZIG, CERTAINLY! I DON’T KNOW DANZIG.’^ 



2II 


Napoleon ceased, he walked a trifle faster and ap- 
peared to be at a serious loss for some sufficiently severe 
expression he desired to use. Presently his face lighted 
up as though he had discovered what he sought, and 
with the sarcastic sneer upon his lip that was such a per- 
ceptible characteristic of his face when he wished it to 
be, he continued : 

“‘It was that of the handsome Emperor of Russia, 
near to the Queen and on the other side of the King 
who is holding up his hand taking his oath on the tomb 
of the Great Frederick, at Potsdam, to destroy the 
French army. The Queen dressed somewhat as Lady 
Hamilton is represented in the English engravings, 
holds her hand upon her heart and looks towards the 
Emperor of Russia with a most amiable air. The 
shadow of the Great Frederick expresses no indignation 
at this scandalous scene, his spirit, his genius, and his 
voice was with the nation that he had esteemed, and 
which had been able to say when he was its King that 
it would not permit the firing of any cannon in Europe 
without his permission.’ ” 

Having dictated thus far, he stopped, smiled visibly 
pleased with his effort and looked toward Lefebvre as 
though seeking his approbation. But that general was 
apparently absorbed in the contemplation of a plan that 
lay on the Emperor’s table. Napoleon approached and 
said to him: 

“ That is a beautiful piece of work ; it was done by 
an engineer of great merit, General Chasselout.” 

“ Ah, yes ! ” said Lefebvre. 

“ It is the plan of the City of Danzig,” continued 
Napoleon. “ It gives the distances, the heights and all 
the positions about the place.” 

“ Ah, it is Danzig, certainly ! I don’t know Danzig,” 
Lefebvre answered, his tone each instant becoming 
more and more indifferent, and as nearly antagonistic 
to Napoleon as he dared. But the Emperor, smiling 
and apparently not noticing Lefebvre’s manner, con- 
tinued: 

“ You know Danzig very well, Lefebvre. It is the 
first port of any consequence on the Vistula ; all the 
commerce of the North begins there ; it has enormous 
resources ; it is the entrance to Poland ; we must go 
thene before we go to Russia.” 

“That is better,” said Lefebvre; “it would give me 
much pleasure to meet troops somewhat more serious 


212 


than those of the King of Prussia. When do we go to 
Russia ? ” 

“Wait, a little patience, Lefebvre ! Russia is a great 
empire, and the difficulties are many to overcome ; she 
is protected by her vast expanse, by the cold, by the 
difficulties of communication, by the scarcity of food. 
My soldiers would die from famine 'and after going 
through the snows of Poland they never could reach 
the heart of Muscovy unless I can provide vast stores 
to follow them. There are no such difficulties with 
Danzig. It is a place of the very first consequence. 
The King of Prussia has constructed there a formidable 
citadel. There is a garrison of forty tliousand Prus- 
sians, reinforced by four thousand Russians, to defend 
it. The brave Marshal Kalkreuth is its governor, and 
he is a noble soldier that I highly respect. You see 
this tract of land,” and Napoleon ran his finger over 
the plan that lay before him, “ is barren ; there is not 
a tree, not a house, not a shrub to protect Danzig but 
it has the sea upon one side and the Vistula and the 
Motlau upon two other sides; it has powerful bastions 
and it could inundate the only approach by land. You 
see, Lefebvre, as I have said, Danzig might be impreg- 
nable.” 

“ Impregnable, perfectly, sire.” Then thinking to 
himself: “What the devil does the Emperor want to 
tell me this, for? What, does he expect me to under- 
stand from these papers ?” 

Napoleon patted the- Marshal on his arm and said in 
his peculiar -way: “ Yes, Danzig is impregnable ! That 
is the reason I have decided you must take it.” 

Lefebvre could not control a start of surprise. 

“I! is it I then? Very well, sire, it shall be taken 
with what, with my Grenadiers ?” 

Napoleon shrugged his shoulders and still looking 
intently at the plan he said : 

“With that, foolish !” 

Lefebvre was stupefied; he looked at the plan, then at 
the Emperor in an effort to understand what Napoleon’s 
words meant, and how he could capture a city with a 
piece of paper, because the Emperor emphasized the 
word “that” by striking the plan sharply with his fin- 
gers. What did these drawings of the engineers signify 
to him ? He was ordered to take Danzig, well and good, 
he would carry it by assault at the head of his Grena- 
diers. 


213 


Napoleon looked slyly from the corner of his eye at 
his old companion. He thought a great deal of Le- 
febvre; he recognized his honest qualities; he knew him to 
be the most valorous and the most ignorant of all his offi- 
cers; Napoleon believed in his rough integrity; he knew 
the worth of his outspoken wife, Sans-Gene. For a long 
time he had intended to give Lefebvre some higher re- 
ward, some unmistakable evidence of his friendship, the 
siege of Danzig would present the opportunity. 

“Old man,” the Emperor said to him, “you take 
Danzig, and I will promise you when we return to 
France you Shall have something a great deal better 
than a seat in the Senate.” 

Lefebvre saluted the Emperor, happy in the absolute 
confidence he had in his word and in his ability to make 
it good. Napoleon told him to summon the engineer 
Chasselout and the General of Artillery Lariboisiere for 
conference with him. 

“ I shall write this, good news to my wife,” said 
Lefebvre on leaving the Emperor ; “^he will be most 
happy and at the same time most thankful to Your 
Majesty for these favors.” 

“Your wife? Sans-Gene?” said Napoleon in a sur- 
prised voice. “ Oh, do you still think of your wife, 
Lefebvre ?” 

“Do I still think of her? Why do you ask me that, 
sire? Catharine and I love each other just as though we 
were two country people. Yes, we think just as much of 
each other now as we did when she was a washerwoman 
and I sergeant; we are no different now that she is 
Madame Marchioness and I the commander of your Im- 
perial Guard. Do I love Catharine ? Oh, sire, my Em- 
peror ! my wife and my flag, of all else I am ignorant. I 
have never been to school and I know but three duties, 
to serve my Emperor, to love my wife, and to defend 
the eagle you have confided to me.” 

“ That is well, Lefebvre,” said the Emperor, smiling, 
“when you have taken Danzig and we have returned 
victors all along the line, you will be able to still further 
reward your wife.” 

“I have already the baton of a marshal; what else 
would you give me ? Oh, sire, what is it then that you 
wish to do for me, to merit it I would undertake the 
impossible ? ” 

“ I have said, take Danzig ! ” 

“ I will go there ! ” responded Lefebvre, and after 


214 


bowing to Napoleon he left the tent and proceeded to 
his own quarters. 

“ He has a brave heart,” murmured Napoleon as he 
looked after him; “ that is the sort of man Plutarch 
tells of as the soldiers of his time.” 

Napoleon twirled himself around upon his heel and 
then became conscious again of his waiting secretaries 
who with pen in hand were ready to resume their work. 

“Write, monsieurs, you, Monsieur Fain, to Monsieur 
Fouche, ‘ My Dear Minister, — I am very much provoked 
at the attitude of the French Academy. Abbe Siecard, 
in receiving Cardinal Maury, said some unpleasant 
things about the Comte Mirabeau. He is a student 
who has declaimed against the Revolution and seems 
to never make any change in his opinions. Speak to 
Mirabeau ’ ” 

A few more words ended his communication to the 
Minister of Police, and he passed at once to another 
subject : 

“ ‘ The Director of the Opera must abstain from any 
interference in regard to the mechanical working of the 
stage ; that is my wisli. I want them to change the 
arrangement of the last ballet ; I notice that some 
of the /actresses are mounted on. clouds, and it seems 
to me there is very likely to be an accident’ ” 

He passed to other equally diverse subjects, and 
when he had finished, he bowed to his secretaries and 
said : 

“ Until we meet again, gentlemen ! Let me advise 
you to take a liltle rest. To-morrow we shall be in 
Potsdam and the day after we shall enter Berlin.” 


XXXIX. 

THE ENTRY INTO BERLIN. 

On the 27th of October, 1806, Berlin presented a 
spectacle so grand that it recalled the most gorgeous and 
princely scenes of the classical era. As the Roman 
legions entered the cities that they conquered, so did 
the victorious Grand Army make its entry into this 
capital of a vanquished state. 

The city was alive early in the day to witness the 
great incident, the windows of the liouses were crowded, 
the balconies had their strengtli tested beneath triple 


ranks of men and women; enormous crowds filled the 
avenues, the boulevards and the streets. The avenue 
that extended from Charlottenbourg to the King’s 
Palace was packed with a solid mass of people, women 
willing to be subject to the awful pressure to satisfy 
their curiosity stood on tiptoe, or clambered upon the 
sills of the adjacent windows; men carried their 
children upon their shoulders; ladders, stools, platforms 
were used all along the fronts of the houses, and in the 
narrower streets that were tributary to this broad high- 
way. All eyes were turned towards the gate of Char- 
lottenbourg, which was still closed and guarded by two 
agents of police, who found no other occupation than to 
beat off the street gamins in their persistent climbing 
upon it, as an excellent vantage-ground to witness the 
approaching army. 

All this mass of people talked in a voice violent and 
sad, individuals explained to other individuals around 
them the history of this brigand they were about to see 
and the prodigious succession of events that had 
brought Napoleon and his army to Berlin. A cry of 
anger went up from the population oppressed by the 
defeat, but intimidated and subjugated by the grandeur 
of the victory. 

The curiosity and desire to see the great Napoleon 
near them, to be able to study his manner, the clothes 
he wore, the way he carried his head or guided his 
horse, the attractions possessed by the victor of forty 
battles and also the satisfaction of looking upon his in- 
vincible soldiers, of whose prowess extravagant legends 
had already been made, dominated the sentiment of 
sadness and of prostration that was found at the bottom 
of all hearts. And the interest was intensified by the 
realization that this was the first occasion upon which 
the French Caesar had demanded the spectacular honors 
of triumph. Berlin was to have the unhappy privilege 
of being the theatre of a new and extraordinary enter- 
tainment. 

Presently a prolonged murmur coming from the dis- 
tance and bearing the ominous sound of an approach- 
ing horror, swept through the crowd and passed from 
mouth to mouth down the broad avenue and through 
all the neighboring streets to the palace. The Charlot- 
tenbourg gate swung open. 

‘‘ Ah ! here they come ! ” 

Tall and brilliant, looking down like a column of tri- 


216 — — 

timph upon this sea of humanity, floated and waved a 
tricolored plume, the aigrette with the colors of the 
Revolution, and beneath it a high hat gorgeously be- 
decked with gold. 

Haughty, imperious, strong, surmounted by the plume 
and the hat, his baton at arm’s length above him, step- 
ping through the arched doorway of the Charlotten- 
bourg, advancing, menacing, his sceptre poised for its 
final signal . 

Majestic, grander than ever, his shoulders slightly 
swinging to the rhythm of the music he had in his mind, 
Violette, as the Emperor had promised, was the first of 
the conquering horde to enter Berlin. 

On his breast glittered the brilliant star of the Legion 
of Honor. His face was placid, but his eyes sparkled 
amid the eclat of this incomparable day. He swung be- 
fore the Berliners his long baton and his plumes nodding 
to heaven, and he seemed to say: 

“ Look at me, children of Berlin! France is the most 
beautiful country in the world, the army is the most 
beautiful object in France, the most beautiful regiment 
of France is the First Regiment of Grenadiers, and I, 
its drum-major, am the most beautiful man of the First 
Regiment of Grenadiers ! Look at me well, children of 
Prussia, you have before your eyes the most beautiful 
man of all the earth ! Ah, if Catharine — I should say if 
the Marchioness, could see me now ! ” 

Because at the bottom of his heart Violette was 
possessed of a profound affection for Sans-Gene, respect- 
ful, innocent, a love as simple as his heroism and as great 
as his stature. 

Behind the rolling drums was the colossal forest of 
Grenadiers, marching with a single step like automatic 
giants. Following them a long break and then Davout, 
Lefebvre, Berthier, Augereau, the glorious marshals of 
the Empire whose names were familiar to the crowd. 

Then another long break and alone, the solitary star 
in the orb of all these brilliant military constellations, 
the centre, the sun, mounted on his white horse 
with golden trappings, wearing his gray coat under 
which could be seen the uniform of a colonel of Chas- 
seurs and his white vest, came the Emperor. 

Behind him the superb Cuirrassiers of the Guard com- 
manded by Generals d’Hautpoul and Nansouty. 

Admiration stilled the crowd, checked its clamors, 
subdued its revolt, commanded its respect. 


217 


Thereafter in the midst of silence the Imperial cortege 
went through the city. 

Not a cry of hatred arose, not a protest came from 
the ranks of this conquered and humiliated people, 
neither was there the sound of applause, not a cheer at 
the spectacle of these magnificent victors parading in 
arms in the capital of Prussia. Later another cortege 
not at Berlin, but at Paris, the Prussians, the English, 
the Austrians, the Russians, passed down the Boulevard 
from the Bastile to the Place Vendome amid the frantic 
acclamations of miserable Frenchmen welcoming their 
defeat, the waving handkerchiefs at the windows, and 
the joyful cries of delirious women. Long live the 
Emperor Alexander ! Long live the King of Prussia ! 
Long live our good friends the enemy ! ” 

The partisans of the Bourbons imprinted that day an 
indelible scar of dishonor on the face of France. 
There was an effort to efface it, in the sublime and 
tragic attitude of Paris on that unhappy first of March, 
1871. 

On that day Paris was a desert. Filled with the con- 
sternation of a city ravaged by an epidemic, the doors 
were shut, the windows were closed, the streets were 
deserted, life was suspended, Paris offered a spectacle 
more dignified than did Berlin, when she greeted the 
entry of the Grand Army in her streets. Our van- 
quishers rested like a troop of suspects in a corner of 
the city without passing the Place de la Concorde. 
And how were their cavaliers received as they wheeled 
about the obelisk ? By the silence of the patriots behind 
the barricade, a vast square, deserted, sinister, the 
imposing statues of the cities of France with their 
stone faces concealed by a mask of black crepe 
that they might not see the approach of the con- 
querors. 

Touching symbols of an overwhelming patriotism. 

The entrance of the French into Berlin on the 27th of 
October, 1806, was not a victory of adventurers, of hired 
warriors, of friends of England as the unhappy epoch 
when the white cocard triumphed over us. 

Master of Berlin, Napoleon, after having solemnly 
received the keys of the city, accorded an audience to 
the magistrates and reassured them as to their safety. 
The most severe orders were given to maintain discipline 
and prevent violence, rioting and theft. 

With great consideration the Emperor summoned 


2I8 


Prince Hatzfeld, who was Burgomaster of Berlin. The 
Emperor demanded of the Prince that he should ‘resign 
his office assuring him his treatment would be hon- 
orable and just. At the same time he offered to con- 
tinue him in the office and volunteered he would not 
in any way interfere with the local institutions or 
laws but would permit the Prince to administer af- 
fairs as in the past, on condition that in such case no- 
thing should be done against the French. This was 
reasonable and equitable and Prince Hatzfeld accepted 
the condition; he earnestly thanked the Emperor for 
his goodness and swore upon the Bible he would, while 
administering the affairs of Berlin, do nothing against 
the French army nor against its chief, nor would 
he reveal to the Generals of the King of Prussia any 
movements of the French troops with which he might 
become acquainted. 

Prince Hatzfeld took his departure; Napoleon turned 
to his work with his secretaries when Duroc entered 
bearing a message from Marshal Lefebvre that he wished 
to talk with the Emperor. 

“ Why doesn’t he come in ? ” said Napoleon pleasantly; 
“ is it necessary for Lefebvre to have a letter of invita- 
tion, my ante-chamber is for kings, not for a marshal 
like Lefebvre.” 

“ It is because he has a young lieutenant with him, 
and he was afraid Your Majesty would not care to re- 
ceive him.” 

“ A lieutenant ? His son, perhaps ?” 

“ No, sire, Lefebvre has no son in the army.” 

“Tell Lefebvre to come in and his lieutenant with 
him.” 

Lefebvre presented Henriot, his adopted son, to the 
Emperor. Looking intently at the young man, Napoleon 
said : 

“ Your age ? ” 

“ Twenty-one years, sire.” 

“Second lieutenant in the Fourth Hussars; your 
general is Lasalle. You are the adopted son of Marshal 
Lefebvre ?” 

“ The Marchioness adopted him, sire, on the field of 
battle at Jemmapes,” said Lefebvre, making response 
for the embarra'ssed young man. 

“ A fine combat that, Jemmapes. And it was at Jena 
that you made your first right, it was a good debut, 
lieutenant ! ” 


219 


“In what regiment, sire?” responded Henriot with 
simplicity. 

The Emperor laughed, he liked precise responses, it 
showed spirit, it augured well for the young man. 

“Ah ! I have named you lieutenant,” Napoleon con- 
tinued with a smile. “Well, then, lieutenant you shall 
be in the same regiment. Of course, if there is no 
vacancy there Murat or Lasalle will give you the first 
one that occurs.” 

Lefebvre approached the Emperor and said to him : 

“ Sire, I thank you for our adopted child ; the March- 
ioness will be very happy. He will be worthy of this 
promotion you have accorded him. Henriot has merit, 
and you have done justice to a true soldier” 

“ Your scholar, Lefebvre ! ” 

“ I am proud, sire. Henriot, tell the Emperor some 
things you have done as a justification for the favor he 
has just shown you.” v 

Henriot, blushing and hesitating, failed to respond. 

“ Y^ou didn’t stand trembling before Stettin!” Le- 
febvre exclaimed. 

“ The Emperor is more formidable than Stettin,” the 
young lieutenant murmured. 

“ Cannot you tell how you took Stettin?” cried Le- 
febvre. 

“ Oh, oh ! How is this ? The Hussars took Stettin ! ” 
said the Emperor in rare good humor. “ Explain to me 
how it was ! You have not alone, I suppose, taken a 
place that had such a numerous garrison, so much ar- 
tillery ? ” 

“ Sire, I had with me a corporal’s guard of Hussars,” 
responded Henriot, modestly. 

Lefebvre once more came to his rescue : 

“ This is what he would say to Your Majesty : Gen- 
eral Lasalle with his Hussars and Chasseurs rode into 
the country. He is not very well acquainted with that 
country, Lasalle, and he sent Second Lieutenant Hen- 
riot with a corporal’s guard of Hussars to reconnoitre 
a large village he saw in the distance ” 

“ A corporal’s guard only ! What imprudence ! Con- 
tinue Lefebvre ! ” 

“ Presently he arrived under the walls of a large city, 
fortified and its ramparts bristling with numerous 
cannon. Now, Henriot, you tell His Majesty what took 
place.” 

The young man continued the story : 


220 


“ Surprised at finding myself before a place of such 
importance where I only expected to discover a village, 
I stopped ! ” ‘ 

“ Lasalle is brave, just as you are Lefebvre, but he is 
terribly ignorant of geograph}^,” said the Emperor. “ Go 
on lieutenant !” 

“ I hesitated for a moment as to what it was best to 
do,” responded Henriot in a somewhat more assured 
manner, encouraged by the amiable words of the Em- 
peror, “ but I had already been seen by the garrison, 
and they were pointing their cannon at me. If I had 
ordered a retreat to my men, we would probably all have 
been killed and my General would not have known of 
the existence of this fortified place. All our cavalry was 
scattered about the plain and offered an excellent mark 
for the murderous fire from the ramparts. Without 
very well knowing what it was the most prudent to do, 
I drew my sword and cried to my men, advance !” 

“Very good! and then!” said the Emperor, much 
interested in the recital. 

“ We advanced to the bridge and were met by an offi- 
cer whom I ordered to halt, I drew my men up in line 
and I summoned the commander to surrender, the draw 
bridge was lowered and we entered. I sent a messen- 
ger at once to General Lasalle and an hour afterwards 
he entered the city. The Governor officially delivered 
to him the keys and the garrison were made prisoners.” 

“ How many men ? ” 

“ About six thousand.” 

“ It was fine, a magnificent feat, I congratulate you, 
captain ! Pardon me, chief of squadron,” the Emperor 
corrected himself. “ Lefebvre, I congratulate you on 
your son; tell Rapp to give me his commission to sign 
to-day. Au revoir, commandant, I shall keep my eye on 
you. When I read the report of Lasalle and bulle- 
tin the Grand Army I shall make mention of this 
action.” 

And Napoleon extended his hand to the young chief 
of squadron, so rapidly and deservedly promoted. 
Lefebvre and his protege left the room glorifying their 
Emperor. Henriot followed the Marshal into the street 
where they walked rapidly along attended by the curious 
glances of the Berliners. 

“ Where are we going Monsieur Marshal ? ” Henriot 
asked in a tone of surprise, as he noticed Lefebvre 
was directing his steps towards a handsome building 


2^1 


situated not far from the palace of the King, where the 
Emperor now made his heardquaters. 

‘‘To the Miinfcipal Palace, to see Prince Hatzfeld, the 
Burgomaster,” replied Lefebvre. 

“ Why are we going there ?” 

“You will know presently,” said Lefebvre with a 
curious smile. “ Henriot, have you forgotten your little 
companion, Alice ?” 

Henriot blushed as he answered : 

“ How could I forget her ! We have played together; 
we have slept together in the canteen wagon.” 

“Yes, when my good Catharine was cantiniere. 
Alice, as you know, was taken by her from the midst of 
bursting shells and in the disorder of a surrendered 
city, that was in 1792, at Verdun. We treated you two 
as though you were brother and sister; perhaps it was 
not prudent.” 

“ I have felt very sad since I have lost Alice, she was 
so sweet, so amiable, so pretty.” 

“Yes, you played the little husband to her little wife. 
Well, Alice is here.” 

“ In Berlin ? ” 

“Yes; her family is very poor, and as, some friendly 
relations existed between one of the Beaurepaires and 
Prince Hatzfeld, the wife of the Prince took Alice and 
she now has her.” 

“ And we shall see her again, what happiness ! ” cried 
Henriot, enthused with anticipation. 

“Alice saw us when we entered Berlin; she has talked 
about us, about you especially, to the Princess, and I 
have received an invitation to dinner from the Burgo- 
master and I am going to take you with me.” 

“ Oh, Monsieur Marshal, how good you are.” 

“ I am good, eh ! The Emperor sometimes calls me a 
beast. Well, I have promised to take you to dinner to 
the Municipal Palace and that is where we are going. 
It is too late for you to refuse now.” 

“This day shall certainly be by me eternally blessed.” 

“ I should think so ! A second lieutenant at noon 
and chief of squadron at four o’clock ! ” 

“ And now going to see Alice ? ” 

“ Oh, you young people don’t think of anything but 
pleasure,” Lefebvre growled, “but now attend to this, 
young man, I did not bring you here and give you an 
opportunity to fight at Jena so that you should wrap 
up your sword in the petticoats of the Berlin women. 


222 


Remember, you may embrace Alice and talk about your 
childhood adventures — but then, en route ! ” 

“ Where to ? ” 

“ To Danzig.” 

“A magnificent place, the strongest in the North, why 
they say” 

*‘Yes, now that’s enough! There are eighteen thou- 
sand men, two hundred pieces of cannon, redoubts, a 
canal, fortifications. Oh, its a fine present ! ” 

“ Certainly ! ” 

The Emperor has given Danzig to me. Of course 
I have got to take it.” 

“ We are going in there ? ” 

“ I expect to. The Emperor has talked about my 
Grenadiers for that service, perhaps you think the Hus- 
sars would do better, or we might take the citadel with 
the cavalry ! ” Lefebvre said ironically, indicating the 
disdain that he as commander of the Footguards felt 
tow^ards the cavalry. 

“ The Hussars in Holland captured the fleet,” re- 
sponded Henriot with vivacity, defending his branch of 
the service. 

‘‘ In war there is nothing impossible. But go on, have 
it over, say good-day and good-bye to Alice, — and then, 
to horse 1 ” 

“ And you are not going to allow me to return ! ” 
said the young man. “ Oh, Monsieur Marshal, my 
father, I have loved Alice since childhood, I love her 
now and I know I shall die if you say it is impossible 
that she shall sometime become my wife.” 

You talk about marrying! At your age? You 
haven’t got time, you’d better attend to becoming a 
colonel.” 

“ But, Monsieur Marshal, you know very well how 
young you were when you married the marchioness.” 

“ Oh, that was different; I wasn’t chief of a squadron; 

I was sergeant ! Now, boy, we will talk about this 
later — considerably later.” 

“When?” 

“ When we have taken Danzig.” 

“ Let’s take it quickly.” 

“ Well, now we will go into the Municipal Palace and 
see the Burgomaster and all those people who will look 
at us as though we were curious animals. Ah, let me 
caution you — when you write to Paris don’t say anything 
about all this to the Marchioness; she will scold me.” 


523 


And the two entered the palace at the door of which 
a Grenadier presented arms and a page hastened to an- 
nounce the coming of his two guests to Prince Hatzfeld. 

XL. 

THE WORD OF A PRUSSIAN. 

Princess Hatzfeld received the Marshal and his 
adopted son with a most gracious welcome. The 
Prince was reserved, dignified, imperturbable. 

Henriot, happy to have recovered Alice, blushing and 
charming, thought of nothing but the~jcontentment of 
being near her. All the definitions of love that he had 
ever conceived were united in this one, single, blissful 
situation ; he preferred to all other happinesses, to all 
other events, to all spectacles, the pleasure of being 
again with his beloved. Final possession, is not that 
the exasperation of sentifiient ? It is the pyrotechnics 
of passion. The best of love is not found in the plenti- 
tude of satiety, but the most delicious moment is when 
they ardently desire, these twin souls, when they enjoy 
the sound of the voice, when they tremble at the 
slightest touch. 

Henriot and Alice talked in a low voice during the 
dinner which was lengthy and elaborate, and they knew 
nothing of the polite conversation of those about them 
for they spoke only of themselves. They talked of 
their pleasant past, they told of the little incidents in 
their youthful adventures. 

One matter, and one alone, troubled Henriot in this 
delightful meeting ; it was that he had no time to put 
upon his sleeve the insignia of his new rank, while the 
sole disturbing element in the soul of Alice was that 
she could not appear in the new dress the Princess had 
promised her for a long time and which had been de- 
layed with the defeat of the Prussian army. 

During the dinner, where the strict conditions of 
German etiquette were scrupulously observed, Le- 
febvre made an heroic effort to behave as a man of 
elegance and refinement. 

He knew the sentiments of the Emperor in this par- 
ticular; many times he remembered how Napoleon ob- 
served to the highest dignitaries of his Empire, that they 
should specially cultivate the art of knowing how to 
deport themselves in the world. 


224 


^‘You are, Marshals, Generals, Chamberlains, Sena- 
tors,” the Emperor had said to his Court, “You are, then, 
gentlemen of the modern world that I have created. 
Rise to the heights where I have placed you. Learn to 
bow, to enter a drawing-room, to give your arm to a 
lady, to converse, learn how to be dignified, imposing, 
distinguished.” 

Distinguished ! That was difficult ! If the Em- 
peror had demanded only that they should have been 
brave, audacious, intrepid, to risk their lives a hun- 
dred times before the cannon, pass their days and 
nights on horseback, in doing the im.possible and daring 
the invincible, that would have been nothing. But 
to be courtiers, these men of the bivouac and the bat- 
tlefield. 

And the brave Lefebvre, the rudest, the most out- 
spoken, the least educated Marshal of the Empire, it 
would have brought on an interminable illness if 
he had followed the Emperor’s wishes. In secret, 
however, to please Napoleon, he bought a small vol- 
ume of Madame Campan, former instructress of the 
French children, entitled : “The Art of Living Prop- 
erly,” and at night in his tent beneath the eyes of 
two sentinels he had studied the rules there laid 
down with the earnestness of a student corporal who, 
desirous of reaching higher rank, would learn the theo- 
ries of war. 

All the time he was at that interminable dinner 
Lefebvre was patient, observing, studious. He ab- 
stained from eating and drinking from time to time and 
glanced to the right, then to the left, closely watching 
the manners of the Prince and rather appalled by the 
gracious, dignified air of the Princess. Mentally he 
went over the rules laid down by Madame Campan, 
and he became conscious upon two or three occasions 
of having been guilty of infractions upon the famous 
code arranged by that estimable lady. 

In drinking a glass of very superior Tokay that was 
served to him by the Princess herself, he could not help 
rubbing his tongue over his lips as he had been in 
the habit of doing when he drank white tvine in 
the Parisian tunnel in company with his intended, 
Sans-Gene, nor could he refrain from the involuntary 
expression that was sufficiently loud to be heard around 
the table : “ In the name of God, that’s a fine little re- 
freshment that is worthy of better acquaintance ! ” 


225 


As the Prince and Princess looked curiously at each 
other and compressed their lips in an attempt to restrain 
their laughter; Lefebvre lifted the glass again in his 
hand and as he poised it an instant in the air, he said ; 

“To the health of His Majesty, Napoleon, Emperor 
and King.” 

The irony of their smiles disappeared. Lefebvre had 
recovered his self-possession, and he extended his glass 
towards the Princess, saying : 

“ A second glass, if you please.” 

And raising this he repeated in a firm voice : 

“To the glory of the Grand Army ; honor and respect 
to the Army of Prussia !” 

The Prince and Princess bowed slightly and touched 
their lips to the glass, and the dinner ended in a most 
formal and almost frigid manner. Lefebvre^ pretended 
to have a report in process of preparation, and was, 
therefore, compelled to leave at an early hour, Henriot 
with him happy in the thought of the pleasant moments 
he had just passed with Alice. 

“ You know, we leave to-morrow,” said Lefebvre to 
the boy as soon as they had emerged from the house. 
“ I shall send an aide to Lasalle to ask him if I may take 
you with me.” 

“ I am at your orders, my father. Only permit me to 
make my adieux to Madam the Princess and to Made- 
moiselle Alice before we leave.” 

“ That is all right,” exclaimed Lefebvre energetically 
and looking savagely at the young man, “You will go 
back there if you wish and present your compliments 
to the ladies, but let me whisper this to you: hold your 
tongue, in the name of all that is great don’t tell them 
where you are going.” 

Henriot was taken aback and confused by this 
admonition, because Lefebvre, in giving it, showed 
he had detected the possible indiscretion the young 
man might be guilty of. In fact Henriot had been on 
the very point of thoughtlessly disclosing the great en- 
terprise the Emperor had confided to the Marshal, but 
at the moment of his utterance he had caught Le- 
febvre’s eye, he bit his lip and was silent. 

But the anger shown in the face of the Marshal and 
the embarrassment of the youthful officer had not 
escaped the notice of the Prince. It concerned a state 
secret, he was sure, an important move of the troops, 
an advance before the main body of the Grand Army 


226 


left, perhaps a rapid attack on the flank of the Russian 
army, now en route across Poland. These surprises 
were familiar to the genius of Napoleon. 

At this moment, when he seemed to be entirely de- 
voted to the interior reorganization of conquered Prus- 
sia, when every appearance indicated he was occu- 
pied only by the fetes and spectacles and receptions 
he himself had ordered, the Emperor might be pre- 
paring for one of those audacious blows that stupefied 
his adversaries and by their very suddenness assured 
his victory. 

So the Prince anxiously asked himself in what way 
he could learn the secret that had been partly revealed 
to him by the young hussar. He spent some time in 
thought and contemplation, studying the means of pro- 
curing this information, and then entered the grand 
salon where the Princess was entertaining a party of 
friends. Saluting the ladies as he passed before them, 
the attention of the Prince was attracted to a murmur 
of low voices in a distant corner, where he found Hen- 
riot sitting with Alice. 

“ Ah ! this young girl, by her help I probably shall 
be able to learn something,” the Prince said to himself, 
while a smile of confidence and hope came upon his 
face. 

He joined the visitors entertained by his wife, and 
when Henriot arose to leave, the prince shook him cor- 
dially by the hand saying : 

“ I pray, you, commandant, consider this house as 
your own during your stay in Berlin. But I learn you 
are going away very soon, I hope not for long ?” 

“ I shall accompany the Marshal,” Henriot replied 
with a little hesitation. 

“ Oh, then, we shall know when you are returning,” 
continued the Prince without any appearance of interest 
in the matter. 

When all the guests had withdrawn and the Princess 
had retired to her apartment, the Prince called Alice to 
him and in a paternal and unctuous manner he talked 
of Henriot, he spoke of her youth and of the long friend- 
ship and love she had borne for the young commandant, 
how thoughts of him must fill her heart, and thus 
with facility and naturalness he passed on to other con- 
siderations about Henriot. 

“You love him, and I suppose he loves you equally 
well; it will be rather lonesome now to be separated 


227 


from each other, but I hope it won’t be for a very long 
time; he seems to be a good fellow; where is he going, 
do you know ? ” 

“ No, I do not,” said Alice, her heart a trifle worried 
by the peculiar manner of the Prince, although his 
words seemed to be amiable, and he observed regret- 
fully that his remarks had aroused some feeling in the 
young girl. He therefore considered it useless to pro- 
long the conversation; he had said enough to feel sure 
that Alice the next day when she saw Henriot again 
would probably learn from him his destination. 

He awaited the coming of the young man with im- 
patience, and at ten o’clock on the following morning 
the clatter of hoofs in the courtyard of the palace told 
Henriot had arrived. Leaving his horse in the care 
of a hussar, the young man ran quickly up to the 
salon and was announced to the Princess, who excused 
herself on the plea that she was suffering just then from 
a slight indisposition and would leave him to the care 
of Alice. 

The adieux of these two youthful lovers were sad and 
brief; Henriot had only a few moments to spare before 
reporting to the Marshal and the departure from the 
city was set for eleven o’clock. Just as he was leaving 
the door Alice timidly asked him: 

“ Henriot, you have not told me where you are go- 
ing, I want to follow you with my thoughts, I want my 
heart to be with you in these strange battles you are 
going to fight ! ” 

“You want to know where the Marshal is going to 
take me, my Alice ? The curiosity of a woman, isn’t 
it? Well, it is Danzig, there is where the Emperor 
is sending us, and he orders us to lay seige to the 
city and take it. You see, Alice, I have nothing secret 
from you.” 

“ Excuse me, Henriot, it is not right I should ques- 
tion you.” 

“ Is it on your own account, Alice, that you asked me 
these questions, has not some one else been trying to 
find out from you where the Emperor is sending us ? 
Tell me ? ” Henriot demanded with energy, the warn- 
ing of Lefebvre flashing through his mind. 

“Yes, it was Prince Hatzfeld, who has questioned me; 
he asked me if I knew where 5''Ou were going.” 

“ Prince Hatzfeld ? Then he is a traitor ! ” cried Hen- 
riot. “And he gave his solemn oath to the Emperor. 


228 


Adieu, my dear, for the present, I must hasten back to 
the Marshal. We shall return wheji Danzig is taken, 
until then be silent, not a word to the Prince nor to any 
one in this place ; happy is she who knows nothing. 
Good-by ! ” 

In his haste Henriot mistook the exit and instead of 
emerging on the vestibule, he opened the door leading 
into the private room of the Prince, and as he threw 
the door back he found the Burgomaster leaning for- 
ward with his ear against the key-hole and manifestly 
flustered at the unexpected interruption. Henriot 
closed the door quickly and as he ran to the courtyard 
he said to himself ; “ The Prince has heard all; he knows 
the secret of our errand. There is not a second to lose; 
the Emperor must be informed. ” 

He hurried to Lefebvre and at once told him of his 
suspicion, the Marshal sent Duroc to inform the Em- 
peror their destination had been discovered. Two 
hours later a courier sent by the Burgomaster to the 
King of Prussia was intercepted and brought before the 
Emperor. On him was found a letter from Prince Hatz- 
feld to the King announcing the departure of Lefebvre 
and the projected siege of Danzig. 

Napoleon was in the most violent rage of his life; he 
shouted: 

‘‘See here the word of a Prussian! The Prince gave 
me his solemn promise to do nothing against us; on that 
condition, which he was free to accept or not, I per- 
mitted him to continue his titles, his rank, his preroga- 
tives; I treated him as an official of my own Empire, and 
this is the return I receive for my generosity, for my 
decency, for trusting a traitor. Well, he will find that 
my vengeance will be worthy of the offense; yes, general, 
I shall make an example of him. I would pardon a 
beaten soldier who sought to revenge his comrades and 
who had thrown down his arms to save his life; I have 
respected the exasperated patriotism of those country- 
men outside the city who, this very evening, in am- 
buscade murdered some of our unfortunate troops who 
were wandering around in small numbers; I am ready 
to respect any citizen who defends his country; I admire 
the explosions of savagery and of courage in the Mame- 
lukes, but I treat as reptiles these perfidious gentlemen, 
these hypocritical courtiers, these lying courtesans who 
bend their knee before me so I may permit them 
to retain their fortunes, their privileges, and that they 


229 


may sneak around without any risk to their courage, 
looking for an opportunity to profit by the indiscretion, 
the passion of some young girl, to listen at their doors, 
to become thieves in their own household, to act like 
traitors in breaking their oath and retracting their 
word. I shall punish this Hatzfeld and I warrant no 
one else will imitate him.” 

“ Sire, you are all powerful,” said Duroc. 

“ I am not feeble,” answered the Emperor. “ I have 
reason for being severe; I have no confidence in these 
arrogant Prussian noblemen, these men who live by the 
fear they inspire. Friendship, benefits, liberality are 
shown towards them in vain. You counsel me to clem- 
ency in your remark, Duroc. That was well enough at 
the time of Cinna, Augustus sat securely on his throne 
in the midst of a peaceful Empire; he was not eight 
hundred miles from his palace in the midst of an antag- 
onistic people and playing with all sorts of treason. 
Duroc, you go and arrest Prince Hatzfeld within one 
hour and have him tried by court-martial to-morrow 
morning. Go ! ” 

Duroc saluted the Emperor. It was a useless labor 
to resist when the Emperor spoke in this way. 

Prince Hatzfeld was arrested, court-martialed, accused 
of 'high treason, found guilty, sentenced to death and to 
be shot within twenty-four hours. 

Davout, Rapp, Duroc made one last appeal to the 
Emperor ; they supplicated him to spare the Prince; 
he had done as he did through patriotism; his crime 
had a legitimate excuse; the Emperor would be more 
feared in pardoning than in executing; he would dis- 
arm the passions of those around him, and would earn 
the admiration of the German people by his act of 
generosity. Napoleon listened to these appeals and to 
these prayers, but his severest trial came with the pres- 
ence of Princess Hatzfeld. 

Touched by her gentle words, his sentiment appealed 
to by the thought of a child yet unborn that would be 
orphaned, the Emperor listened with much feeling to 
her appeal. As he hesitated Rapp ushered in a young 
girl who came trembling before the Emperor. It was 
Alice, in simple dress, her eyes filled with tears, join- 
ing her prayers with those of the Princess. She re- 
cited in broken words the story of her childhood, the 
care that the Marchioness Lefebvre had given her, the 
kindnesses she had fpund in the home of Princess 


230 


Hatzfeld. She spoke of the friend of her early years, 
Henriot, the adopted son of the Marshal and with whom 
she blushingly confessed she dreamt of a future happi- 
ness. Would the Emperor be the indirect cause of 
eternal anguish to her benefactress ? 

Napoleon reflected seriously and .slowly, he was 
touched by the supplication of this girl, his heart was 
not all bronze. 

“You are the fiance of Commandant Henriot, the 
brave hussar who took Stettin with sixty cavaliers?” 
said he, fixing his look upon the young girl. 

“ Yes, sire, and, with your permission, I shall marry 
Commandant Henriot, Marshal Lefebvre has already 
given his consent.” 

“Good^? You believe then that Marshal Lefebvre will 
accomplish the mission I have given him. Ah, well, 
mademoiselle, out of regard for the valiant officer 
who has accomplished one of the noblest feats of the 
century, I will grant your request. You may both rest 
easy.” And goir»g to his desk, he took from it a letter 
which he handed to Princess Hatzfeld with these words: 

“ Here is the proof of your husband’s treason, ma- 
dame. The court-martial has pronounced its judgment 
based on this proof, it exists no more. The court-martial 
will be called anew, and your husband against whom 
no charge can now be sustained will be set at liberty.” 

And with a hasty and imperious gesture, the Em- 
peror took the letter again in his hand and threw it into 
the fire, it was the letter taken from the courier which 
contained advices to the King of Prussia that Mar- 
shal Lefebvre was marching against Danzig. 

As the Princess and Alice were leaving the room 
beaming with their happiness at the clemency of the 
Emperor, he, his face covered with smiles, said to the 
young girl : 

“ If Commandant Henriot does as well before Danzig 
as he did before Stettin, I will promise you, Madamoi- 
selle, a wedding portion when you sign your marriage 
contract.” 

And as the Emperor returned to his work, he said to 
Duroc : 

“ Well, Marshal, I hope you are satisfied with me. I 
have been weak, I had no business to pardon him; I 
should have continued angry. I should have made an 
example. I have done wrong.” 

“Sire, your have conquered yourself. It is the 


231 


greatest victory Your Majesty has yet achieved and 
posterity will glorify this day as one of the most prom- 
ising in your reign,” responded the Marshal. 

XLI. 

BEFORE DANZIG. 

In his tent Marshal Lefebvre angrily, impulsively was 
reading a report that had been rendered to him by his 
aide-de-camp. For some moments he listened to it, and 
then striking the table before him violently with his fist, 
he exclaimed: • 

“ Go ahead, go ahead ! I could do it well enough if 
I had the men, six thousand Poles, who are as drunk 
as Cossacks, twenty-two hundred Badois, five thousand 
Danes that I thrashed at Jena and now have to keep 
under my eyes, because I think they would a great deal 
rather be with the King of Prussia than with me. And 
that is all the Emperor has given me to take this city! 

“ The Marshal has forgotten the Second Regiment,” 
said the aide. 

“ No, by God, I haven’t forgotten it; I am going to keep 
that Second Regiment for the assault; oh, if I only had 
my Grenadiers.” 

" Have you any orders to give for the Chasseurs ? ” 

“ Ah yes, the cavalry ! They can’t do much, these 
Chasseurs, they are good regiments, the Twenty-second 
and the Nineteenth, but, the devil, how can we take 
fortresses with cavalry? Henriot might. What a position 
the Emperor has put me in. I have just three thousand 
Frenchmen, three thousand real soldiers and I am ex- 
pected with these three thousand men to take a place 
that is regarded as impregnable. It is true, I have six 
hundred engineers, but that is not much. It will be well 
earned, this present I am to receive.” 

And the valiant Marshal mounted his horse, impatient 
at the delay in the operations of the siege. 

Danzig was securely invested. The siege was 
memorable, the most important of the wars of the Em- 
pire and it necessitated tedious preliminary operations. 
From the day the Marshal left Berlin, accompanied by 
Henriot, the work had been carried on with admirable 
precision and with excellent judgment. 

When the siege began General Schramm, with up- 
wards of three thousand Poles and a squadron of the 


Nineteenth Chasseurs and a battalion of the Second 
Regiment, crossed the Vistula and landed on a sand- 
bank. The men of the Second Regiment had the honor 
of being at the head of each attacking column. The 
Danzig garrison made a valiant sortie, but the Second 
Regiment stopped them and Schramm’s forces pressed 
them back into the city. A bridge of boats was thrown 
across the river and the advance post of the French was 
established under the guns of Fort de Weichselmunde. 
Two other sorties were made and desperately fought. 
General Chasseloup, who had the full confidence of 
Napoleon, pursued the siege with uninterrupted tenacity 
to the great discomfiture of Lefebvre, who impatiently 
informed him from day to day he wished to carry the 
place by assault. 

The winter was severe, but thanks to the care taken 
by the Marshal, the soldiers had no suffering in their 
barracks. • Every night great fires were lighted, and 
joyously the men sang their songs and brewed their 
punch in their great bowls. The morale of the troops 
was excellent, only the brave Marshal was uneasy; 
he understood nothing of all these precautions that 
were being taken by the engineers; he wished to 
be at them and, like an old warhorse impatient of 
restraint he kept his ears constantly strained for the 
sound of the advancing trumpet. The day we find him 
in his tent, listening to the daily report of his aide and 
interrupting him with his complaining comment, 
Nothing new, always nothing new,” a council of war 
had been called. 

General Chasseloup, directing the engineers* work, 
and General Kirgener, commanding the artillery, to- 
gether with General Schramm, had come to confer with 
the Marshal. 

“ Well, gentlemen, when are we going to end this ? ” 
he asked of them as soon as they entered. 

“ A littl'e patience. Marshal, we are approaching them,” 
responded General Chasseloup.” 

“When will it be in condition for me to assault? Are 
we to rest eternally here ? ” responded Lefebvre, who 
imagined these scientific men, these men of the pen, 
were retarding the decisive hour. 

“ Marshal,” said Chasseloup, politely, “ will you throw 
your eye over this plan. Here are the surroundings of 
Danzig, traced out on this card, there you find two out- 
works separated by a little village named Schildlitz ”- — . 


233 


“ When shall we take this village ? ” 

“ In eight days ! ” 

“ Not before ! Why not?” 

“Because we must first make a false attack on these 
works to the right, Bischofsberg.” 

“ Good, and after the false attack ? ” 

“Then you will order a real attack. Marshal.” 

“ On which side ? ” 

“ Here, to the left, this redoubt which is named Ha- 
gelsburg.” 

“ Then we go for Hagelsburg ! whether we strike to 
the right or the left, it is just the same to me so long as 
we strike.” 

“ We shall strike, Marshal, you can be certain of that,” 
General Chasseloup said with calm placidity. 

“The quicker the better. But why do we strike on this 
side and not on the right?” 

“ For this reason: contrary to the opinion of my col- 
league, General Kirgener, I have- chosen the works on 
the left. It is that they are in a better position to per- 
mit us to deploy our troops, and they cannot make a 
sortie so well. It is also open to our attack from the 
rear. On the contrary, Bischofsberg is protected by a 
ravine.” 

“ But general, this ravine would do for my soldiers,' 
they could advance under cover. Why did you not 
choose the other side ? There we could throw our men 
under the walls of Danzig without taking any great 
risks ? ” 

“ But, Marshal, how would it be possible for you to 
make any progress in the ravine.” 

“ I don’t know what you mean, explain yourself, 
general ? ” 

Then the engineer went into a long explanation to 
the Marshal on the art of capturing a city, and it is not 
extraordinary that the Marshal was deficient in this 
chapter of military art. For the most part the generals 
of the Empire were all ignorant of it. From the occu- 
pation of Vaudan there had not been in Europe a regu- 
lar siege, outside of Mantone the most of the places in- 
vested had surrendered without bringing the enemy to 
the issue of a siege. 

General Chasseloup acquainted the Marshal with the 
real difficulty of the position Napoleon had assigned to 
him; he had more confidence though in the company of 
the Grenadiers or the light infantry to carry by assault 


234 


the well-defended fortifications. It was practical war 
that the Marshal wanted, the war of scientists he did 
not think much of. 

But by means of trenches and other laborious work 
they approached nearer and nearer to the walls and 
finally got close up under the ramparts. Each trench 
was provided with cannon keeping up a continuous 
fire. This was the promise held out by Chasseloup for 
the termination of the siege. 

“ And what shall we do when we get to the foot of 
these ramparts,” asked Lefebvre. 

“ Then, Monsieur Marshal, we will make as large a 
breach as possible in the walls by means of General 
Kirgener’s cannon, and at that moment our soldiers can 
enter.” 

The council was concluded and the officers returned 
to their quarters. The opening in the tent was parted 
and Henriot, wearing the uniform of a commandant of 
Chasseurs entered visibly affected. 

“ Well, what is it now? Have you taken Danzig with 
your corporal’s guard ?” asked Lefebvre, always a little 
ironical when he spoke of the cavalry. 

“ No, Marshal, it is some news I bring, two pieces of 
news, .one for the army and the other for you.” 

“ What is it that concerns the army ? ” 

“The Forty-fourth Regiment of the line detached 
from the corps of Marshal Augereau and the Nine- 
teenth of the line coming from France have arrived with 
a detachment of artillery.” 

“ Bravo ! Those are the reinforcements I was ex- 
pecting,” cried Lefebvre with enthusiasm. The Em- 
peror has kept his word. Gentlemen, with the Forty- 
fourth and Nineteenth we can enter the city within a 
month. Now, Henriot, what is the other news that con- 
cerns me ?” 

“Madame the Marchioness is in the camp.” 

Lefebvre sprang to his feet in surprise : 

“ Great heavens, what is she doing here, the Marchio- 
ness ? Has something happened in Paris ? Do we 
stand in need of women before Danzig ? Does she want 
to see the snow, and these trenches, and earthworks, 
and hear the thunder of a siege that is not finished 
yet ? ” 

Then, when this explosion had passed, an expression 
of joy came upon his face — he exclaimed : 

“ But it will give me real pleasure to see her again. 


235 


my Catharine. Henriot, go, bring her here quickly, and 
you, gentlemen,” turning to the engineers : ‘‘ I trust you 
will push things ahead as rapidly as possible, the Mar- 
chioness would be very pleased if she could see me take 
Danzig.” 


XLII. 

Josephine’s secret. 

The interview between the Marshal and his wife be- 
gan with' most affectionate greetings. The first enthusi- 
asm of the reunion over, Lefebvre asked: 

“ And why have you come here ? ” 

“ A State secret,” Catharine replied. 

“ Nonsense ! ” 

“The Empress sent me.” 

“Does she wish to know whether I shall take Danzig? 

“ No, she wishes to know the Emperor’s feelings 
towards her.” 

“ The Emperor always has strong attachments. He 
has passed his first and second youth now, and has be- 
come more settled. I am sure he loves her to-day.” 

“ She adores him ! ” 

“ About time. When he was general of the army in 
Italy she did not have such sentiments for him. You 
know Josephine was one of the most flighty of Parisi- 
ennes; she had around her a perfect suite of gallants, — 
Barras, and Hypolyte Charles, the beautiful Charles, 
Adjutant Leclerc, and a dozen others. Ah, he loved the 
women, too, our general, it was a delirium, a pas- 
sion ” 

“Why, yes, he did some extraordinary things; you 
know at Milan he was furious because she delayed com- 
ing to him; he sent courier after courier to her; he de- 
clared he could not live without her” 

“ Yes, and it was just the same when we returned from 
Egypt. He really suffered enormously from the separa- 
tion, and one day when he broke the glass that was over 
the picture of Josephine he always carried in his pocket, 
he said to me: ‘ Lefebvre, my wife is either sick or un- 
faithful.’ When we reached Paris, Josephine had gone 
to meet us by the road to Lyon while we had taken the 
road from Bourbonnais; he spent the whole day in tears 
in her boudoir. Bonaparte has had a momentary 


236 


thought of divorce ! Is that the great news you would 
bring me, the secret you would let me into ?” 

“ No, I believe the Emperor has always been attached 
to Josephine, he married her a second time in the church, 
in Notre Dame, he could not have had any idea of 
divorce then. Josephine has some fears, however.” 

“ Has her conduct given the Emperor any new reason 
for complaint ? ” 

“Oh, no! The Empress is thirty-seven years old; she 
is of a nationality that ages early; she was affianced at 
twelve, a mother at sixteen, she is now an old woman, 
she is beyond suspicion but not reproach.” 

“What does the Emperor find fault with, then ? ” 

“ Because she has no child. It is a terrible grief to her 
the realization that she cannot become a mother.” 

“Yes,” said Lefebvre pensively, “the Emperor 'suffers 
cruelly in mind at the thought he can have no heir, 
no one to succeed to his colossal work, no one to sit 
upon his magnificent throne. Ah! if science could only 
give him a son ! ” 

“The doctors seem to have lost their skill; Corvisant 
tried without effect. He says the Emperor is resigned 
to the absence of a direct heir. His brother Joseph will 
succeed him.” 

“ Humph ! His brother ! Napoleon is the only one in 
his family ! There is Murat, too, his brother-in-law ; he 
dreams of the inheritance. No, wife, I believe Napoleon, 
in the absence of his own children, will adopt the de- 
scendants of Josephine, the Oueen of Holland and her 
child.” 

“Little Napoleon Charles? The son of Hortense ! 
Do you speak seriously of that child succeeding Napo- 
leon ? ” 

“ And why not? ” laughed Lefebvre. “The Emperor 
has always been strongly attached to its mother, his 
stepdaughter ; some evil tongues have even ” 

“ Yes,” interrupted the Marchioness, “they pretended 
that when the Emperor married his brother to Hor- 
tense de Beauharnais she was about to have a child — 
and he was its father. Ah, well, the gossips can talk no 
more. Little Napoleon Charles is dead.” 

“What is that you tell me? Dead? The Emperor 
will be prostrated ; he loved that child dearly.” 

“ Yes, and it may disturb his calculations. You know 
that I know our Emperor, and he has subordinated his 
affections, all his softest sentiments, to politics. It is 


237 


that which torments me. What will he say when I 
take this unpleasant news to him ? ” 

“ He will not receive you pleasantly ; he will be rude.” 

“ Bah, I shan’t cry ; I will give him his answer. You 
know I don’t carry my tongue in my pocket ; it isn’t for 
nothing they called me Sans-Gene.” 

“ But,” continued Lefebvre, “ why did the Empress 
send you to announce this unhappy event to the Em- 
peror ? People do not ordinarily wish to be messengers 
with bad news ! I cannot understand why you were 
asked to travel across Europe to find me in the mud 
and snow before Danzig.” 

“ Why, I have come to consult you before talking 
with the Emperor.” 

What advice can I give ! ” 

“ I want you to tell me what I can say in reply to 
Napoleon.” 

“ Now, how can I tell ! I don’t know what the Em- 
peror will say to you.” 

“ I dread it.” 

“ What confidence have you received from the Em- 
press ?' What mysterious mission have you to perform ? ” 

“Trust me, Lefebvre, I understand my duty.” 

“ And you doubt me, wife ! If you knew what these 
blessed engineers have forced me to bear with their 
papers and their plans, you would not fear to acquaint 
me with anything that is difficult. Go on, tell me, I am 
all ears ! ” 

“Well, then, the death of little Napoleon Charles is 
not only sad but it has frightened the Empress; she has 
consulted all sorts of people, physicians, fortune-tellers 
and sorcerers demanding a remedy, an elixir, a drug 
that will enable her to be a mother. She has taken the 
waters at Luxenil and Plombieres which are reputed to 
have the power to induce maternity. She is disconso- 
late, discouraged, nothing has any effect.” 

“ That is true ! She would share her crown with 
another for the sake of one of those blessings that 
throng so plentifully in the homes of the poor; one has 
nothing, another has everything.” 

“She dreads the sadness of desertion; she fears the 
Emperor will repudiate her.” 

“ Why, because she can have no children ? That 
would be unjust. It is not her fault. If the Emperor 
consults me in the matter I shall reply to him that he 
has been acquainted with several ladies, little Foures, 


238 


Belilote, the pretty companion of his in Egypt; Gras- 
sini, Mademoiselle George, without counting the ladies 
of the palace, the readers, the ladies of honor — none of 
them have brought any heir to Napoleon, and they 
have not been altogether unwilling. You understand, 
if one had proved to the Emperor he was a father, that 
amiable friend would have become a woman of import- 
ance at once. But no one has charged him with being 
a father. As for Josephine it is different, she has given 
her proof. Eugene and Hortense are living evidences 
that she possesses the full capability of her sex.” 

“You are right. Josephine has been a mother, but it 
is certain she must renounce the possibility of being one 
again. She is not young, and Napoleon believes that is 
the sole obstacle; he does not love her now and it is 
easy for him to believe a younger woman would' give 
him the son he desires. Lucien, Talleyrand, all of 
them counsel him to get a divorce; they excite his 
vanity by persuading him he can secure an alliance with 
a princess, daughter of one of the monarchs of Europe.” 

“ Yes, they say this devil of a Talleyrand, this meddler 
and renegade whom I never see without feeling inclined 
to kick, because he is full of treason, they say he is help- 
ing along a project of marriage with the sister of the 
Emperor of Russia.” 

“The Empress has learned of it; she knows they are 
conspiring against her happiness and she is awaiting 
the return of the Emperor to talk with him about this 
divorce in the interest of his dynasty. She has a way 
to divert the blow aimed against her.” 

“ What way ? ” 

“ Well, do you remember the young woman who was 
in the household of Princess Caroline ? An elegant 
brunette, magnificent eyes, her name was Eleonore ” 

“ A scholar of Madame Campan, married a high liver, 
Jean Renel, whohad been quartermaster of the Fifteenth 
Dragoons and was expelled from the army for stealing. 
Yes, certainly, I remember her very well. The Emperor 
was much interested in her when he returned from 
Austerlitz. She was divorced. But what- is there be- 
tween Eleonore and the Empress?” 

“ Something terrible for Josephine ! Eleonore has 
received that which the Empress seeks! Eleonore has 
a son! ** 

“ Not by the Emperor ! ” 

“Yes, every possible doubt as to the paternity of the 


child has been removed. During the time the divorce 
was being obtained Eleonore was at the School of 
Madame Campan at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and no 
man but the Emperor saw her. And then again, the 
child is the very likeness of his Imperial father.” 

“The devil! Well, do you intend we shall have Eleo- 
nore’s son for an Emperor?” 

“ Perhaps 1 The Empress has consulted lawyers, the 
divine right admits only heirs of the blood to succeed 
to the throne, but the Roman law permits adoption. 
Cambaceres has explained all that. I am now in favor 
of adoption.” 

“ You are very bright, Catharine,” said Lefebvre, 
looking in great admiration upon his wife. “ Then the 
Emperors of Rome, those famous rabbits, as they are 
called, adopted their heirs when they could not get 
them otherwise ? ” 

“Yes, the greatest Emperors did, Augustus to begin 
with; you know Talma plays at the Theatre Frangais 
and they give the adoption scene. It is very handy ! 
Now, do you understand why I am going to the Em- 
peror’s camp at Frickenstein ?” 

“ No, why ? ” 

“ The Empress knows about this child of Eleonore; 
she learned of it at the same time she heard of the death 
of Hortense’s son, and she proposes to the Emperor to 
adopt this boy of Eleonore and make him heir to the 
Empire. She sacrifices her natural repugnance and will 
act the part of mother to the child. The army and the 
people, accustomed to admire and approve everything 
Napoleon does will applaud this act. The child, il- 
legimate, it is true, but having the blood of Napoleon in 
his veins, will certainly be preferred to that blockhead 
Joseph, or that silly Louis. For the Emperor’s 
brothers, you know, every one has only the merest re- 
spect, they are known to be vain, ambitious, imbecile, 
and perhaps they are rascals who will betray their 
brother on the first occasion when it becomes necessary 
to do so to save the crowns he has put on their heads. 
This child, brought up in the palace by the Emperor 
and the Empress, treated by all the world as the Prince 
Imperial, will never be opposed. There, Lefebvre, that 
is what I propose to the Emperor, in the name and with 
the consent of the Empress. Now, you understand 
all?” 

Lefebvre reflected profoundly. His was a slow mind 


i 


240 


but one that was just. His good sense guided him in 
all the cfrcu instances of his life. When they sought 
candidates for the Directory, he was considered, but he 
replied to their invitation with modesty and rare good 
judgment : “ No, citizens, I cannot be a Director. It is 
a royal crown you are offering me. I am a republican 
and a soldier. I wish to serve my country in some other 
way than re-establishing a royalty with five heads. You 
are all men of education, you don’t want a fool like me 
as King. I shall return to the army of Sambre-et 
Meuse, where I have the enemy to look after.” 

Josephine’s proposal he did not think would be 
acceptable to the Emperor, and he feared the mission 
of the marchioness would be fruitless. 

“ But you have accepted the duty, wife, and you must 
perform it,” he said, with the determination of a soldier 
incapable of loitering when the order to march had 
been given. 

There was a roll of drums and a blare of trumpets. 

“Ah, good! there is supper,” said the Marshal; “I 
have been in the habit of eating at the same time as the 
soldiers. To-day I invite you and I will tell the chef 
that he must give you a dish of honor. We will dine, 
tete-^-tete.” 

“ As we used to do at the Rapee, where we had that 
white wine. Do you remember that ?” 

“ Do I remember it ? I want it in the palace. We 
can’t get it here, they don’t know it in Germany. I will 
offer you some Hungarian wine the Archbishop of 
Bamberg sent my chaplain for Mass; you know I have 
a chaplain now.” 

“ You ? What a farce 1 It is funny to think of you 
learning to say your Pater ” 

“ They are very religious in Poland — and they drink 
a good deal.” 

The valet and the two servants of the Marshal came 
in to arrange the table; the marchioness threw aside 
her cloak and as she rose to do so, she saw a basket of 
champagne among the delicacies for supper. 

“ Waiter, why didn’t you bring the Archbishop’s wine? 
The Marshal and I have a little ceremony this evening,” 
exclaimed the marchioness, accompany^ing her words 
with a slap upon her massive hips, the favorite indica- 
tion of her good humor. 


241 


XLIII. 

Catharine’s dessert. 

Are you hungry ? ” asked the Marshal, as he passed 
to his wife a plate of bubbling soup whose odor was 
sufficient in itself to tempt or create an appetite. 

“ I am as hungry as a dog,” replied the marchioness. 
“ And this soup looks famous.” 

“ The soldiers will eat no other. Now, that’s the dif- 
ference between the Emperor and me ; the Emperor 
concerns himself, with his men’s feet. Why, I have seen 
him stop a marching column and order one of the sol- 
diers to take his shoes off. He sees to it personally that 
orders for shoes are properly filled. But I occupy my- 
self with their stomachs ; with musket over shoulder, 
good shoes and good soup they can make the tour of 
the world. Have a little beef, Catharine ? ” 

“ Yes, and a pickle.” 

“ Pickles — they don’t know anything about them in 
this hog land ; but there is some sour cabbage ! ” 

All right ! And the drink, Lefebvre ? ” 

“ The Archbishop’s wine ? ” 

‘‘ Yes, and we will drink to the health of the Em- 
peror,” said the marchioness gaily, lifting the glass to 
her lips. 

‘‘ What is new in Paris ? What is going on at the 
Court ? ” asl^ed Lefebvre. 

“ Well, we have had several fetes. The Emperor or- 
dered us to amuse ourselves this winter. He said he 
did not wish his absence to make any difference, and for 
us to go on as usual. There was a quadrille of honor^ 
and I took part in it.” 

‘‘You, my wife; did you dance with the prin- 
cesses ? ” 

“ Are we not princesses ? Yes, my dear, the Empress 
did me the honor. There were sixteen ladies, dressed 
by fours in different colors, there was a white, green, 
red and blue quadrille. The ladies in white wore dia- 
monds, those in red wore rubies, green wore emeralds, 
I was in the blue quadrille, and I wore turquoise and 
sapphires. ” 

‘' You must have been brilliant, Catharine, how I 
should like to have seen you.” 

“ Yes, I looked fine, with my great ostrich feather 




sticking upon my toque. It was superb ! We wore 
dresses cut Spanish style and toques the color of the 
dresses. You should have been there.” 

“ And the men ?” 

“They wore velvet clothes, and they had toques just 
the same as we did. They had the same colors, too. 
My escort was a handsome man, M. de Lauriston, oh ! 
now don’t be jealous, he is only a civilian. Then it was 
Despreaux you know, my dancing-master, who led. 
Princess Caroline by some extraordinary miracle did 
not quarrel with Princess Elisa that night. The ball 
was simply ravishing; I knew the Emperor would have 
enjoyed it, the dear man.” 

“You will amuse him with the news you bring, I am 
sure.” 

“ He will be enchanted to see me arrive instead of 
Josephine, it w-on’t interrupt the scene — if as they say, 
that Polonaise — eh ! how is it ? ” 

“ Did the Empress think of coming here to camp ?” 

“ She sent word to the Emperor to that effect, by a 
special courier; she was just dying to join him in Poland; 
she was restless and jealous, especially when her courier 
returned with express orders that she should remain in 
Paris. Then I was started off. But tell me, how about that 
Archbishop’s wine; don’t you think it may spoil in the 
bottle? ” And she gaily held forth her glass to Lefebvre 
for a new replenishing and Lefebvre filled it. 

There sat these two simple, frank, honest people 
happy in being together, enjoying their modest meal in 
the tent with the cheerfulness of young lovers. The 
supper being concluded Lefebvre seated himself by the 
fire his feet on the table and looked at his wife through 
the clouds of tobacco smoke The marchioness allowed 
her glance to wander around the tent and take in the 
furnishings her husband provided for himself. Sud- 
denly she burst into a hearty laugh and pointing 
towards the bed in the corner, she said : 

“ Do you sleep in that little portfolio, there? Ah, my 
dear husband, how is that going to hold us both, for I 
don’t suppose you expect me to sleep in the carriage 
that brought me here?” 

“ I have another iron bedstead like it. We can put 
them up to each other and make one, a trifle small, 
perhaps, but large enough for two who love,” said Le- 
febvre, at the same time passing his arm around the 
waist of his wife. 


243 


An orderly entered as he did so and Catharine em- 
barrassed, pushed Lefebvre’s hand from her bosom, 
whispering to him: 

“ Send these fellows away that we may at least take 
our dessert comfortably.” 

The Marshal was about ordering as his wife requested 
when a number of sharp detonations rang out clearly, 
and above them arose the loud cry, “To arms, to arms,” 
followed by a rolling of drums and the notes of the trum- 
pets putting the whole camp in an uproar. 

“ What is that ? ” exclaimed Lefebvre, looking towards 
the orderly. 

“ Commandant Henriot wishes to speak with you. 
Marshal ! ” 

“Well, let him enter! But this sounds serious,” an- 
swered Lefebvre, listening to the continued discharges 
of the musketry, accompanied now by the heavy roar of 
cannon. 

Henriot entered, and saluting the marchioness, said 
rapidly: 

“ Marshal, the enemy has made a grand sortie, it is 
against the redoubt we have taken ” 

“The redoubt where the Forty-fourth Regiment is 
stationed? The redoubt we took eighty yards from 
Hagelsburg. The Saxons and Belgians are on guard 
there ” 

“ Yes, Marshal, but there is a panic among the Saxons; 
they have abandoned the trenches. It is a serious rout; 
in a quarter of an hour, unless something is done, the 
Prussians will be here.” 

“ The Forty-fourth Regiment is there ? ” demanded 
Lefebvre. 

“ Yes, Marshal, and it is ^one. Commandant Roquet 
in charge.” 

“That is sufficient! Come, go with me — but no, re- 
main here and look after the marchioness” 

“ Look after me ! ” echoed Catharine, in a wounded 
voice. “ Don’t you know me! Leave me, Lefebvre, 
and go to the front ! Don’t you remember the night of 
Jemmapes! You were not concerned about me. Give 
these Prussians a thrashing and come back. We will 
meet after this affair.” 

Lefebvre hastened forth, and as he did so a long 
shadow fell across the entrance to the tent and Violette 
stood within it. 

“Ah; it is Violette ! ” cried C^thcirine. 


244 


“Yes, Madame Catharine, I mean Madame Marchio- 
ness, you have guessed well. It is I, and if you wish I will 
take you up to a place here where you may see the 
entire performance.” 

“ No, my boy, many thanks, but I prefer to be alone; 
I would rather have you go with the Marshal. He may 
require you.” 

Lefebvre quickly rallied the somewhat broken ranks 
of the Forty-fourth, and he shouted to them above the 
din of battle : 

“ Soldiers, this redoubt is not only the protection of 
our camp, but it is the key to Danzig. If the enemy 
occupies it we will be much inconvenienced. I have 
promised the Emperor to take Danzig. I count on you 
to help a Marshal of France to make good his word. 
Advance, Grenadiers of the Forty-fourth, and long live 
the Emperor ! ” 

Then, as a sergeant would do, sword in hand, the 
grand cordon of the Legion of Honor blackened with 
powder, fearing nothing, but plunging straightahead, the 
Marshal was the first man to leap into the abandoned 
trenches at the head of the Forty-fourth. 

The Prussians, astounded by the return attack, hesi- 
tated. Lefebvre, throwing himself on the front rank of 
the enemy, cleared a way before him with his swinging 
sabre and received the savage thrust of a bayonet in his 
arm. His men swept after him, having no time to re- 
load, but cleaning the trenches with their plunging 
bayonets. 

“ Advance ! To the redoubt ! ” shouted the Marshal, 
waving his bloody sword above his head and carried 
away with the frenzy of the encounter. 

And again he dashed forward, cutting, slashing, carv- 
ing a passage through the ranks of men that defended 
the redoubt and were cut down like rows of wheat be- 
neath the sharp blades of the advancing hosts. Beside 
him there was a young man who parried many a bayonet 
thrust intended for the- Marshal, while upon the other 
side was a giant armed with a gun that he grasped by 
the barrel and wielded as a club against those who 
came within the luckless reach of his long arm. From 
time to time the giant stopped, as if for rest, leaned his 
clubbed musket on the ground, and then, in an instant, 
refreshed resumed his terrible assaults. 

They soon were masters of the redoubt. 

In one of the trenches they found a cannon, aban- 


245 


doned so suddenly by the enemy that it yet remained 
loaded and primed and ready to discharge. 

“ Oh,” said Lefebvre, “ if I had a couple of horses to 
drag this piece around, I would fire it after those run- 
aways.” 

“ No need of a horse. Marshal,” exclaimed Violette, as 
he laid his musket, stained with blood, across the can- 
non, and with his muscular hands he seized the piece 
and by a great effort swung it around so that it pointed 
after the fleeing Prussians and towards the walls of 
Danzig. Henriot, springing forward, sighted the piece 
and applying a match sent the deadly shot hurling after 
the fleeing enemy. 

The report of the cannon completed the rout of the 
Prussians. The redoubt was taken and the Marshal 
looked with satisfaction upon the Prussians disappear- 
ing behind the ramparts, and then, returning his sword 
into its scabbard, he said to Henriot and Violette : 

“ My brave fellows, I confide the defense of the re- 
doubt to you. Do not leave it to-night. I will return 
to the marchioness and have dessert.” 


XLIV. 

A LOVE HISTORY. 

The next day, the marchioness awoke with the first 
ray of the sun. She sprang joyfully from her bed to 
the notes of the reveille that rang through the gloom; 
her memory went back to the camp of the republican 
army, when the volunteers, without shoes, hats or the 
necessaries of life, carried their muskets to the refrain of 
the Marseillaise and each morning upon arising re- 
solved to end the day with a victory. 

Quickly she dressed, aided by a maid she had brought 
with her, and who day and night without cessation 
asked her mistress how soon they would be on the road 
returning to France. 

The Marshal had already gone to visit the advance 
posts and look over the situation. The redoubt taken 
the evening before had been strengthened and fortified 
during the night. He felt confident from its condition 
now that it would serve as a protection from which he 
could batter a breach in the walls of the city and force 
the first line of defense back. He went over the scene 


246 


of the sortie a few hours before, and when he had con- 
cluded his rounds he returned to Catharine pale and 
visibly affected. 

“What is the matter?” Catharine exclaimed with 
alarm. “ Have the Prussians made a new sortie ? 
Have we lost the redoubt ? ” 

“ No, the redoubt, happily, is well protected, and the 
men are warned to take extraordinary precautions by 
the adventure of last night. No, it is not that, but a 
great misfortune has befallen us, my dear Catharine” — - 
“ My God, what is it ! Speak, quick ” 

“ Henriot, our dear Henriot, whom you taught as a 

child, whom you love and I love as a son ” 

“ Is he dead ?” the marchioness cried, her voice trem- 
bling and her eyes filled with tears. 

“ Be calm, he is ” 

“ What then, what then ! is he wounded ?” 

“ No, he is a prisoner !” 

Catherine gave a great sigh of relief. She dried her 
tears. Her eyes again became brilliant. 

“Ah, that is bad enough,” she said, “but I feared 
something worse; you frightened me, my dear. Prisoner 
of war, that is not a dangerous position, you can ex- 
change him on the first occasion; you made a great 
number of Prussians prisoners yesterday. ” 

Lefebvre was silent for a moment and then he re- 
sponded in a solemn way : 

“When I say Henriot has been made a prisoner of 
war, I spoke *in guarded words. I have sent to Marshal 
Kalkreuth offering to give him in exchange two officers 
and ten soldiers captured last night.” 

“And he has accepted, this Prussian ?” 

“ He has refused ! ” 

“ Is it possible ! and why ? ” 

“ Because he does not consider Henriot as a prisoner 
of war. ” 

“ Well, what does he consider him ? ” 

“A spy, surprised in disguise in the city. ” 

“ Henriot, a spy ! A brave soldier cannot be a spy ! 
He fights with his face to the enemy, his sword in hand 
and his uniform clear of such stain. Marshal Kalkreuth 
is an old fool; is there no one of sense near him to tell 
him?” 

“Unhappily, wife, appearances are against him. 
When he was captured in the streets of Danzig to- 
night, after the affair of the redoubt where he acted so 


247 


valiantly, he was not dressed in our uniform, but he 
wore the uniform of an Austrian officer.” 

“ An Austrian uniform ! But there are no Austrians 
in Danzig. You are not fighting with Austrians.” 

“ It is precisely for that reason he took the costume 
of an officer of the Emperor of Austria.” 

“ But what an idea ! What could he have meant by 
it ? Can you explain it ? ” 

“Well, just like you I was surprised when I saw in 
what way he had gone into the city, and I could not un- 
derstand it. Violette, who I have severely reprimanded 
for not having stopped Henriot in his folly, knows how 
he was disguised, and why it was that he put this cos- 
tume on that has transformed him from a brave officer 
to a miserable spy.” - 

“ And what has Violette told you ?” 

“ A strange story.” 

“ Love at the bottom of it, I warrant.” 

“Yes, it’s a love story.” ' 

“ Henriot is young, gallant, and capable of love, but 
what is this he has done now?” 

“ Oh, he always was popular with the women, and 
they thought he was a hero, and that led him into these 
absurdities.” 

“ What absurdities ? ” 

“ Why, he was in the outposts of the redoubt, and a 
carriage came from Koenigsberg. The driver exhibited 
a pass, permitting him to go through the lines, and it 
was all right and proper, and extended the privilege to 
the Consul-General of Austria to go through the French 
posts with his suite, and to present himself at the gates 
of the city; the order was signed by Rapp. The order 
was presented to Henriot, who accepted it and allowed 
them to go on, but inspired by curiosity he looked into 
the carriage and was heard to utter an exclamation of 
surprise. Now what do you suppose he saw there ? ” 

“I cannot tell, the Consul-General probably.” 

“Yes, and three ladies with him! The wife of the 
Consul-General, Princess Hatzfeld, wife of the Burgo- 
master of Berlin, and a young girl. Who do you sup- 
pose the young girl was ?” 

“How in the world do you suppose I would know?” 

“ It was Alice, our dear little Alice. The child you 
saved from the bombardment of Verdun. Henriot saw 
her again in Berlin, with me at the Princess Hatzfeld’s 
house, and as a consequence of it the Prince came very 


248 


near being shot by order of the Emperor, but instead of 
that he was exiled and his wife was authorized to join 
her family. And that was the reason she was going 
with the Austrian Consul-General to Danzig.” 

And this is why he went into Danzig. He loves her 
and he has followed her; I understand it all now, he was 
very imprudent.” 

“ He pretended to be the military attache to the con- 
sulate. In the Consul’s suite was an Austrian officer with 
whom Henriot was friendly and he allowed him to take 
his uniform. Henriot joined the escort of the Consul- 
General, and with him, thanks to the Imperial pass, 
entered the city.” 

“ And he was recognized ! ” 

He was betrayed.” 

‘‘By whom?” 

“ By the Austrian Consul-General.” 

“The miserable fiend! He is probably in love with 
Alice, and it is a case of jealousy, rivalry ! ” 

“ I don’t believe the Consul was inspired by ani- 
mosity, by vengance, he detests the French, he has an 
implacable hatred against our Emperor, he execrates 
him as a soldier of the revolution, whose invincible 
sword forced upon the entire world the principles of ’89. 
He is an aristocrat and the enemy of all patriotic men, 
the regicides, as he calls us. I know all about him, 
Fouche has sent me a most circumstantial report.” 

“ I don’t trust Fouche! ” 

“Yes, I know, the old cure is a traitor just like Talley- 
rand; they are the evil geniuses of the Emperor; those 
two combine everything that is repulsive, they certainly 
have sold themselves out to England. But that does 
not concern the Consul-General and Fouche has given 
me some very interesting items about him, they don’t 
happen to serve the same master. The Consul is a 
secret agent of Austria; Fouche on the other hand, is 
working in the interest of the English. Ah ! if the 
Emperor would allow it, how I would clean all that ver- 
min out of the court! All I would leave would be our 
old companions in glory, the faithful soldiers, Davoiit, 
Duroc, Lannes, Bessieres and myself. There is not a 
traitor among them, no such set of questionable adven- 
turers as Bernadotte, Marmont, Talleyrand, Fouche. 
He will be lost yet, I tell you, Catharine, and France 
with him.” 

“ The Emperor will regret some day when he took 



“WIIAT !)(_) vor SAY? WHAT NAMH WAS THAT YOU I TTEliED?” 





249 


the council of these traitors — but, Lefebvre, we should 
be doing something; how are we going to save Henriot ? 
They may shoot him, may they not ? " 

“ Certainly; taken disguised in a city that is being 
besieged, where he has entered by fraud he is liable to 
be shot. The laws of war are inexorable,” the Marshal 
said with gravity; “if I should find here, dressed in our 
uniform, a Prussian ofiicer, certainly there is no price 
that would tempt me to forego his execution.” 

“ Then there is nothing we can do to save Henriot ?” 

“Nothing, except a miracle. If I had the power, 
with my Grenadiers to dash into the city.” 

“Good! Go! Enter the city, order an assault?” 
the marchioness shouted enthusiastically. 

Lefebvre inclined his head and with a gesture of 
despair he replied : 

“ I cannot; I am not master here.” 

“ Not master ! You a Marshal of France ?” 

“ Stop, my wife, I have an idea; I will order the 
drummers to sound the charge at the head of the 
Forty-fourth Regiment, I will scale the ramparts and 
take my chances. Reinforcements must arrive, of that 
I am certain. Mortier is on the road now with new 
regiments and artillery. You see the Emperor has 
ordered us to make this siege on certain rules, these cursed 
engineers are doing it because, he says, I am only brave 
and cities like Danzig are not taken with bravery. He 
has made plans and calculations and geometrical figures 
that I don’t understand ; the Emperor understands 
them, of course, because he is a savant, and he likes to 
carry on this particular siege like a savant. General 
Chasseloup has received particular instructions from 
Napoleon, and I have simply allowed my sword to rust 
in its scabbard while they are drawing pictures. I am 
a Marshal of France and the commander-in-chief and 
yet I can’t save Henriot because I haven’t been to school 
enough.” 

“ Then all hope is gone ; Henriot must die ! ” 

“ But I shall have my vengeance, when I enter Dan- 
zig, because I shall enter it ; I shall not leave an Aus- 
trian alive. When that city is taken, Catharine, I shall 
shoot this Comte Neipperg.” 

The marchioness uttered a cry and threw herself ni 
the arms of her husband. 

“ What do you say ? What name was that you ut- 
tered ? 


250 


Comte Neipperg — the arch enemy of Napoleon, the 
Austrian Consul-General.” 

“ And don’t you know who this Comte Neipperg is? 
Don’t you remember that I have often spoken of him?” 
“ You know him ? ” 

“ Yes. Don’t you remember the night at Jemmapes, 
where, surprised in the Chateau Lowendaal with the 
brave Violette, I was seized as Henriot is to-day ? ” 

“By heavens, I do? You have often told me of that 
adventure, and that you were saved by an Austrian offi- 
cer. It was he ? ” 

“Yes, it was Comte Neipperg.” 

“ You have disarmed me,” Lefebvre responded, with 
a touch of sadness. “ How now can I shoot him when I 
capture Danzig ?H owe to him the life of my Catharine.” 

“ You are under no obligations. Don’t you remember 
the morning of the loth of August?” 

“ A day that never can be effaced from my memory.” 
“ What was it then that occurred in my wash-shop, 
when you came and knocked at the door with your 
companions of the National Guard ? ” 

“You had taken into your room a wounded man, a 
Chevalier of the Poignard, a defender of theTuileries; I 
was a little jealous, you remember. Why, I remember 
as though it were yesterday ! ” 

“That wounded man was Comte de Neipperg.” 

“ Then he owed his life to you ? ” 

“And we are quits. Lefebvre, it is absolutely neces- 
sary I should go into Danzig ” 

“ You are crazy? You, Marchioness Lefebvre, go into 
the stronghold of the enemy! And what would you 
propose to do ? ” 

“To talk with Comte de Neipperg.” 

“To ask him to save Henriot ? He could not do it. 
Don’t think of such a rash thing.” 

“I shall go into Danzig ! ” the marchioness exclaimed 
with decision, and holding out her hand to her husband, 
she continued: 

“ Comte de Neipperg, when he hears what I have to 
say, will never allow them to shoot his — our Henriot.” 

“ Then you have a secret with him ? ” 

“ Yes, and with that secret I shall save Henriot.” 

And without giving the Marshal the opportunity to 
respond or oppose her rash resolve, the marchioness 
threw aside the opening to the tent and cried: 

“ Violette ! Violette ! Come here ! ” 


251 


XLV. 

OLD MEMORIES. 

There was regularly under the walls of Danzig, and 
between the French trenches, an interchange of gossip 
and news, not permitted by the authorities but quietly 
winked at by both sides. Women would come from the 
city with liquors and scandal, and would trade both for 
the gold and acquaintance of the soldiers. In all sieges 
that are prolonged such suspension of arms is an estab- 
lished fact, and the happenings of one camp are quickly 
known in the other. 

It was during the hours when these interchanges took 
place that Violette chose to enter with the marchioness 
into the beleagured city, for, made familiar with the pro- 
jects of Catharine, Violette had at once consented to aid 
in saving Henriot. 

Having laid aside his brilliant uniform of a drum- 
major, wrapped himself up in dirty riding coat bought 
from one of the numerous peripatetic Jews who came 
from the Levant or out of the Russian Steppes and fol- 
lowed the armies about, Violette presented himself at one 
of the city gates, followed by the marchioness, dressed 
in the costume of a woman of the country. Violette 
spoke German fluently, and the marchioness, originally 
from Alsace, understood German as she did French. 

To the guard at the gate Violette explained that, sur- 
prised by the coming of the French, they had not been 
able, he and his companion, to get into the city earlier 
and their parents were inside and doubtless anxious 
about them. He, therefore, begged permission to enter 
and see them. The guard replied that he had no ob- 
jection, but they probably would have to get out again 
very soon. 

“ Well ! ” responded Violette gaily, “ we will wait until 
the French attack us and then we will help you fight.” 
Having thus obtained the necessary permission they 
crossed the bridge, their hearts beating violently to find 
themselves thus alone in a city filled with soldiers, en- 
cumbered with the wounded, with artillery, supplies 
and barracks, where all the population seemed to look 
at them in suspicion, where they feared recognition at 
each step, were afraid to ask any directions, and en- 


252 


deavoring to find their own way where they wanted to 
go without making inquiries. 

Violette having noticed a canteen where the soldiers 
appeared to be congregating and gossiping, approached 
the groups gathered there and mingled with them that 
he might hear v/hat was going on. Some of them 
spoke of a French spy who had been taken in the uni- 
form of an Austrian officer and was condemned to be 
shot the next morning. When he heard that he felt 
easier, he realized there was yet time. Henriot had not 
been killed, perhaps they could save him yet. The 
marchioness on her part went into some of the stores 
and under pretext of seeking, some material to buy she 
informed herself as to the residence of the Austrian 
Consul-General. She represented herself to be niece to 
the maid that attended the wife of the Consul. In this 
manner she learned where the consulate was located and 
with Violette turned her steps in that direction. 

Reaching the building they found it to be closed 
and there was no evidence of residents in the appearance 
of the place, no one to ask as to their whereabouts. 
Disappointed, fearful of delay, and knowing no other 
course, they knocked madly at the entrance to the 
palace and waited vainly for a response. 

“ Nothing, no one ! The place is deserted,” said 
Violette, and then of a sudden he threw his arms in the 
air, and pointed wildly to the windows on the second 
floor : 

“ See that window !” 

“ Can you get in by the window,” said Catharine. 

“A window is as good as a door when I can get my 
foot in it,” responded Violette at the same time raising 
himself so he could look in and see what was going on 
inside. 

“ There is no one in the building. We can go in.” 

“ Do you think we had better enter the Consul’s house 
by the window? ” 

“ They repel us at the door then, Madame Catharine, 

I should say Madame Marchioness, a little courage and 
daring,” at the same time he bent his back over as though 
he would form a resting-place. 

What are you doing, and what do you want me to 
do?” 

“ Climb up.” 

“ On what ? ” 

“ On my back. Have no fear, it is solid, it will hold 


253 


you,” and he stooped more and . more, the marchioness 
finally stepping upon his broad back. Once there she 
arose slowly, carefully and found herself on a level with 
the window. 

“Enter,” said Violette, using for the first time in his 
life a tone of command, and as she hesitated he con- 
tinued, “ Pardon, excuse me, Madame Catharine, no, 
Madame Marchioness, but we are seeking to save the 
life of Henriot. Go and I will join you.” 

Bravely the marchioness gathered up her skirts and 
in another moment had entered the palace, a second 
later Violette followed her. 

“ That is an advantage in being tall ! ” he exclaimed 
as if to make excuse for his height. “We must not lose 
a minute now, let us hurry and find the Consul.” 

And opening the first door that was before them he 
and the marchioness entered a long, silent and sombre 
corridor through which they made their way straining 
their ears to hear any sound that might indicate the 
presence of a human being, and looking in at every door 
they passed in hopes of finding the room occupied. 

When they had reached the end of the corridor, they 
detected a low murmur of voices and listening intently 
they heard a man and two women in conversation. 

“ We have them ! ” said Violette, “ some one is in here, 
I would a hundred times rather climb up the redoubt 
behind the Marshal than go in and face these people.” 

“ Enter,” the marchioness exclaimed resolutely, “ I 
hear Alice's voice.” 

She turned the knob and opened the door. A cry of 
surprise greeted this unexpected intrusion and Comte de 
Neipperg, who was standing before a table in the salon, 
advanced quickly towards them, and said: 

“ Who are you ? What do you want here ?” 

Two women, one pale, grave, sad, with great black 
rings beneath her eyes, the other young, gracious, 
crowned with a wealth of golden hair, advanced with 
him, astonished and stupefied by the presence of Ca- 
tharine and Violette. The marchioness, looking for a 
moment at the two women, stepped towards the younger 
one, saying: “ Alice, my Alice, don’t you remember me ?” 

The young girl, without a moment’s hesitation, threw 
herself into the extended arms, crying: 

“You, my mother! here ! How did you get here?” 

I have come to save Henriot ! ’’ the marchioness re- 
plied with dignity. 


254 


“Oh, mother! We are supplicating the Comte, but 
he is inflexible.” 

Catharine turned towards Neipperg, and asked gravely: 

“ Don’t you know me, Comte de Neipperg?” 

“ No, madame, and I demand to know who has per- 
mitted you to enter without being announced.” 

“ I am Catharine Lefebvre ! ” 

“ Marchioness Lefebvre, here ! My God, has the city 
been taken ? ” he said with terror in his voice. 

“ No, not yet ! I have come in advance of my husband, 
that is all, and to save Henriot, my adopted son. You 
understand Comte, my adopted son.” 

“ I can do nothing, Madame Marchioness,” responded 
Neipperg with evident embarrassment. “ Commandant 
Henriot came here, into a besieged city, under the pro- 
tection of a disguise and endeavored in my name to 
come into this house. I know he is in love with 
Mile. Alice, and believe me, if I had known it earlier I 
would have interceded with the Governor, but my inter- 
vention after I did learn of it, was entirely useless and 
could not stay the execution. They all supposed Austria 
must have had some interest in saving an officer, who to 
all appearances is a spy.” 

“ Then you believe you are powerless to influence 
the Prussian authorities?” asked the marchioness. 

“ I believe I can do nothing; I am powerless to inter- 
fere; Commandant Henriot must submit to the laws of 
war; I regret it exceedingly. If I could” 

“You must !” said the marchioness in an authorita- 
tive tone. 

Neipperg made a motion of impatience, and the 
marchioness continued : “ Will you kindly request-these 
two ladies to leave us alone for a moment ?” 

“ For what reason ? I have nothing to conceal, both 
of them have been urging me in this matter. The 
Comtesse de Neipperg is very much touched by the tears 
of Mile. Alice and has urged some further effort ; I 
had about decided to end it by leaving the house.” 

“You must save Commandant Henriot!” replied the 
marchioness, “whether you will or not. I will speak 
then before the Comtesse and before Alice, but I give 
warning you will regret having forced me to the dis- 
closure, a disclosure that is very serious.” 

“ Madame, the comtesse, and you, Alice, please leave 
us,” said the Comte, impressed by the manner of the 
marchioness. The two ladies closed the door behind 



“don’t you know me, COMTE DE NEIPPEUG?” 




255 


them Alice leaning upon the shoulder of the Comtesse, 
and the Comtesse murmuring some words of hope that 
the Comte might be able to save the young man. 

“ Marchioness Lefebvl'e,” said the Comtesse, “ would 
never have passed through the lines to save Henriot 
without having some hopes of accomplishing it: Comte 
de Neipperg is under great obligations to her and she 
may be able to influence him.” 

Alice struggled to keep up her courage and the tears 
that filled her beautiful eyes were brushed away under 
the revived hope of the Comtesse’s words. 

Violette, on a sign from Catharine, said: 

“ I will stand outside the door, Madame Marchioness, 
and if you want me, I will come in,” and, drawing him- 
self up to his full height, he looked towards the Consul- 
General as if he would say, “ If you do anything you 
shouldn’t, ri! put you in my pocket, you cigar stump of 
an Austrian ! ” 

“Very well, Mad,ame Marchioness, speak, we are 
alone,” Neipperg said, as he took his seat on the sofa 
beside Catharine, who replied with some emotion: 

“ It is a long time since we have seen each other, 
Comte, not since we met at Jemmapes and many events 
happened have since then.” 

“ I am happy to know of the changes that have occurred 
with you, I heard you had left the canteen and had mar- 
ried a sergeant ” 

“ Pardon, a lieutenant, who was fulfilling the duties 
of a captain.” 

“ The lieutenant has rapidly advanced, now a marshal 
of France, one of the most famous generals in the first 
army of the world, a friend of Napoleon, I congratulate 
you and I pray that when you return to the camp you 
will present my compliments to the Marshal.” 

“ If I have called up old memories, Comte, it was not 
for the purpose of creating a gloriole, and making a 
comparison between the cantiniere of Jemmapes and 
the wife of the Marshal who is in command before Dan- 
zig. Comte, in the Chateau Lowendaal where we saw 
each other for the last time, where you saved a miserable 
prisoner, who in turn had saved from a deplorable union 
a young woman who enjoyed your love, Mile. Blanche 
de Laveline ” 

“ To-day she is Comtesse de Neipperg.” 

“Yes! so I have learned, but the emotion that has 
been brought on me by this terrible position of Henriot 


256 


made me forget to congratulate you. To her I really 
owe everything; she purcliased for me the wash-shop, 
and through its sale I was enabled to marry Lefebvre. 
If to-day I am Marchioness Lefebvre, it is to your beau- 
tiful and kindly wife I owe it. Oh, I am not un- 
grateful, and I only await an occasion when I can prove 
the true depth of my gratitude. Unhappily, I am forced 
again to come to you seeking a favor.” 

The Comte bowed with serious politeness, and the 
expression on his face indicated that he awaited with 
some impatience the explanation the marchioness had 
to make for her appearance. Catharine, with an appar- 
ent effort at self control, continued: 

“ When you saved me from being shot with the brave 
Violette, where were you ? In the chapel where the 
marriage of Mile. Blanche de Laveline was on the point 
of being celebrated with Baron Lowendaal, who had 
already fled to Brussels or to Coblentz with the Marquis 
de Laveline whose consent had been given to the mar- 
riage. Do you know what motive, powerful motive, 
possessed me, that led me to pass through the advance 
posts and risk my life by entering a position occupied 
by the Austrian troops ?” 

Comte de Neipperg made a movement of indifferent 
assent and said: “ I do not remember very well.” 

“Then I will aid your memory. In my little wash- 
room on the morning of August loth, I made a solemn 
promise to Mile, de Laveline; you haven’t forgotten that, 
have you ? ” 

“ Oh, no,” answered the Comte with a sad expression, 
“I have tried not to think of it for many years. It 
was you, Madame Lefebvre, who went to Versailles to 
find my child and to bring him to his mother at Jem- 
mapes. Ah, you have reopened a wound that had 
almost healed. Continue, I beg you speak to me only 
of the present; I wish to forget the past; you have risked 
great dangers to come into this city with the laudable 
hope of being able to save a French officer in whom you 
are interested, interested, no doubt, because he is the 
protege of your husband, the fiance of Alice and your 
own adopted son. Speak to me of Commandant Hen- 
riot and permit me to forget the unhappy child who will 
always be mourned by his mother and by me.” 

“You speak of Henriot as we speak of some one wl),o 
has passed away, ” said Catharine with such a manner 
that it brought Neipperg to his feet instantly. 


257 


“ What is that you say ? What do you mean ? ” 

“ That you believe something happened to this child 
entrusted to Mother Hoche at Versailles, and that I 
promised to deliver to you at Jemmapes.” 

“ The child is dead.” 

“ Who told you so ? ” 

“ Marquis de Laveline, and a confidential servant of 
Baron Lowendaal. The child was buried under the 
ruins of the chateau when it was destroyed by the burst- 
ing of a shell.” 

“The child was rescued alive from the ruins, Comte.” 

“What is that you tell me? It is impossible. Tell 
me, Madame Marchioness, tell me quickly, what reason 
have you for such an idea ? ” 

“ The child was saved ; he has lived ; he is to-day a 
strong, brave, handsome young inan, and he is loved ” — 

Neipperg, who at every word was becoming more and 
more affected and whose handsome face was pale as 
death, murmured : 

“ I begin to understand.” 

“ You begin to understand ! Your child, Comte, was 
adopted by Lefebvre and me ; he has become a brave 
French officer” 

“ Not wholly, I trust.” 

“ Comte de Neipperg, you have delivered your son 
over to the Prussians, for them to shoot.” 

Neipperg, overcome by the words of the marchioness, 
sank upon the sofa his face hidden in his hands, sob- 
bing violently : 

“ This is terrible ! The child we had mourned so 
long returned to us alive, saved by a miracle, and lost, 
delivered up by me to the terrible justice of a court- 
martial.” 

“ He must be saved.” 

“ Yes, I will save him ; but how? What means can I 
find to do it ? ” 

“ We must both seek a means.” 

“ Not one word of this to theComtesse ; it would kill 
her.” 

“ Do you know whether the time for the execution 
has been fixed ? ” 

“ To-morrow, at sunrise.” 

“ Then we have several hours to work.” 

“And if we can employ them well, they will be 
'sufficient.” 

“ Propose an exchange of prisoners to the Governor. 


Lefebvre will give anything for Henriot; ten, twenty, 
thirty officers, fifty, if the Governor wants them. We 
have them, prisoners.” 

“ He has already refused an exchange.” 

“ What shall we do then ? ” 

‘‘ I think I have found a means.” 

“ Tell me, what is it ? Can I help you in it ? ” 

“ No, I can do it alone. I shall go to the palace of 
the Governor and demand the surrender of Commandant 
Henriot on the grounds that he is an Austrian subject. 
Once within the Austrian consulate he will be saved. 
He can be guarded here. A prisoner if they wish, but 
kept here until his nationality can be established.” 

“ But how can you convince them that Henriot is an 
Austrian subject ? ” 

“ Is he not my son ? Does not the nationality of the 
father descend to his children ? Now, as for you, march- 
ioness, you must return to camp immediately; if your 
identity should be known, I fear even my influence 
would be powerless to protect you.” 

Tlie marchioness made no response; she dreaded to 
offer one single objection to interfere with the Comte in 
this terrible labor he had before him, and she realized 
it was dangerous for her to remain in the city and 
perhaps impossible for her to do so without compromis- 
ing Henriot. 

Go then, Comte,” she said,“ and may you be success- 
ful in bringing Henriot to us again.” 

Provided with a pass from the Austrian Consul the 
marchioness and the faithful Violette safely went from 
the city without arousing suspicion. They regained 
the camp, but the marchioness had a heavy heart at 
the thought that her Henriot wa€ to become a soldier of 
Austria. “Will he accept his liberty at such a price ? ” 
she said, in recounting to Lefebvre what had passed 
between herself and Comte de Neipperg. 

Lefebvre reflected a moment: 

“The engineers say they have finished; they have 
reported to the Emperor and he is pleased. Now, 
I shall give the order to attack ! Rest easy, wife; they 
will never shoot Henriot. I liave Oudinot with his 
Grenadiers; I shall go at their head, and, by God, 
to-night I shall capture Danzig.” 


259 


XLVI. 

LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR. 

WHy.E Lefebvre was preparing for the assault, Comte 
de Neipperg w^s at the palace of Marshal Kalkreuth 
soliciting an audience. 

He confidentially acquainted the Marshal with the 
secret of the presence of Commandant Henriot in the 
ranks of the French army, explained how by birth he 
was a subject of the Emperor of Austria and begged 
the prisoner should be remanded to his charge. 

Prussia and Russia held the balance of power against 
Austria, but Austria could, at any time, turn its arms for 
or against Napoleon. The presence of Comte de Neip- 
perg at Danzig was of the highest diplomatic impor- 
tance; his intervention with the conqueror could relieve 
the city of many of the horrors that would be attendant 
upon its capture ; the palace of the Consul-General of 
Austria was neutral territory where the capitulation, if 
the French forced their way through the last defenses, 
could be arranged. The Marshal considered all these 
arguments and then ordered that the French prisoner 
should be conducted under escort to the Austrian Con- 
sulate, where he was to remain guarded, at the disposi- 
tion of the authorities who would examine further into 
the claims put forward by the Comte. 

The meeting of Henriot and Alice was touching and 
joyful; they forgot the dangers surrounding them; they 
abandoned themselves to delicious projects for their 
future and in their hopes of happiness they already 
believed they were free from every peril. When the 
siege was terminated and with the consent of Marshal 
Lefebvre, they would get married and forget all about 
the unhappy dream they had at Danzig. Comte de Neip- 
perg after having left Henriot and Alice to their love- 
making, invited the young man to come to him before 
the supper hour and confer with him alone in the library. 

Henriot hastened to the appointment, thinking the 
Consul intended suggesting some way by which he 
could return to the French camp, but when he was 
seated in the room Neipperg said with great gravity 
and seriousness that -he wished from him some account 
of his early years, and desired to know all he could re- 
member about his childhood. 


260 


Henriot repeated with frankness and simplicity the 
incidents of his boy days passed in the camp; he told 
how he was a child of the bivouac; he vaguely recalled 
Versailles where he had played before the little fruit- 
store of Mother Hoche; his real life, as he remembered 
it, commenced in the battalions of Sambre-et-Me^^e and 
of the Moselle where he had been truly the child of the 
regiment. With undisguised emotion, he told of the 
first impressions received in this company of soldiers, 
how his youth had passed within the sound of the drum, 
accustomed to alarms, enduring long marches, familiar- 
ized with fatigue, rejoiging in victories. 

Neipperg cautiously asked about his parents, but 
Henriot responded he had never known them, the Mar- 
shal and his wife were his only friends. Then the Consul 
in a voice trembling with emotion said : 

“ Your parents are living, my young friend, and you 
will, perhaps, return to them soon; very soon you may 
be in their presence.” 

Henriot made a movement that indicated surprise and 
perhaps a little indifference. 

Pardon, monsieur,” he said, “ my parents abandoned 
me, they never gave any care to my infancy, they have 
never made any attempt to see me, they have never 
allowed me to hear from them, how can you think my 
heart would go out to them ? What sentiments of 
affection or of tenderness can I have for those who have 
never manifested any for me?” 

“ Do not accuse them, possibly circumstances stronger 
than you can imagine existed that made other action 
impossible; they might have thought you dead, and 
their hearts through long suffering of this supposed 
affliction might have become deadened. To-day their 
tears are dried; their joy is again aroused by looking 
into your eyes — Henriot do you wish to embrace your 
mother ? ” 

The young man was deeply affected, the name of 
mother which he had only known as that of the excel- 
lent wife of Lefebvre awakened in him a great fervor, 
he was to hear from the lips of his mother herself, he 
was to know from her that he was not alone, that he 
was no longer a waif, received in charity, brought up by 
a good soldier and a good cantiniere. In the presence 
of the woman who called herself his mother he would 
throw aside the indifference he displayed in the 
face of the consul, his soul responded rapturously to the 


26 i 


burst of new affection these words kindled within him, 
and with a trembling voice he asked : 

“ When can I see my mother, monsieur ? ” 

“ This moment,” responded the happy Comte as 
hurrying to the door of the salon, he threw it open dis- 
closing Alice with the Comtesse, and seizing his wife’s 
hand he exclaimed : 

“ Blanche ! my dear Blanche, embrace your son ? ” 

And rapidly, taking advantage of her momentary 
hesitation impossible to avoid, he repeated the revela- 
tions Catharine had made, and Madame de Neipperg 
threw herself into the arms of Henriot. 

The first feelings passed, Henriot with a troubled look 
turned towards Neipperg, who stood behind his wife 
whose eyes were wet with tears : 

“ Then, monsieur, you are my father ?” 

The only response was Neipperg’s opened arms and 
the joyous look upon his face. 

“ Our son is save^ ! ” said the Comtesse. “ My dear 
Alice, I hope no obstacle will now oppose this union 
you both desire. The Comte and I have nothing but 
good wishes for your happiness.” 

“ We will leave the Comtesse and Alice at once,” 
Neipperg said, “and go to the Governor’s palace. I 
wish, my dear son, to present you officially to Marshal 
Kalkreuth and make known to him your real position. ” 

“ I am at your orders, monsieur,” said Henriot. 

“You still wear the Austrian uniform, I see, with 
which you imprudently introduced yourself into the 
city. Very well, wear it now because you have the right 
to do so, you have the dress of a captain and you were 
chief of squadron in the French army; I will undertake 
to see your rank is kept the same; the Emperor of 
Austria, my august sovereign, will certainly endorse this 
promise when we hear from him. Come Henriot, Mar- 
shal Kalkreuth awaits your call. ” 

Henriot, deathly pale, did not stir; his hands were 
clasped and a gleam of anger was in his eyes as he 
replied: 

“ What are you saying, monsieur ? I do not thorough- 
ly understand you; I am now as I was yesterday, and I 
was then as I have been always, a French officer devoted 
to France and to the Emperor, and if I have worn this 
disguise for some hours, I am ready now to lay it aside 
and resume my dress as a commander of Hussars; but 
no other ! ” and tearing off the white coat of the Aus- 


262 


trian, Henriot exposed the under vest of the French 
Hussars. 

“ Henriot ! do not be guilty of this folly, ” cried Neip- 
perg. “You are my son and so you are an Austrian 
subject, I offer to secure for you your former rank in 
the army of my sovereign, your advancement will 
be certain, will be rapid, all I propose is for your 
advantage. ” 

“ You propose to me treason ! ” 

Take care of your words; it is your father you are 
speaking to. ” 

Comtesse de Neipperg advanced between the two, sur- 
prised and pained by this altercation. 

“ My husband, my son, be calm, ” she said. “ I under- 
stand the scruples of Henriot. They are those of an 
honorable soldier ; from his earliest years he has served 
France, it is not easy to change his camp; leave him to 
his reflections; put him not under restraint and do not 
think that your authority should force him to abjure his 
oarth as a soldier. ” 

“ Many thanks, my dear mother,” said Henriot, “for 
your kind and thoughtful intercession. I am sure you 
do not wish your son to be a renegade and a traitor.” 

“ Henriot, my son, do not use such terrible words.” 

“ I am a Frenchman — I shall remain a Frenchman ! ” 

“ Obstinate boy ! I would as soon see you dead ! ” 
Neipperg exclaimed, angrily. 

“ I would prefer to die rather than to be a traitor 
to my flag.” 

“ I do not ask treason of you,” replied the Comte. 
“ You are in this city in the costume of an officer be- 
longing to a neutral country. I urge you to carry out 
this character of neutrality. You are my son ; your 
birth, guarantees you the safeguard of Austrian nation- 
ality. Be reasonable ; consider what I am trying to do 
for you. Consider your mother ; we are your only 
natural protectors, your family.” 

“ I have known no other mother than France, and .my 
family is my regiment,” cried Henriot, with exultation. 
“ I have committed one fault. I am here in this city as a 
spy. I demand to be shot as such. At least my com- 
rades who do not know the real reason of my presence 
here will believe I found death in the midst of my 
enemies, although dressed in a foreign uniform yet 
wearing it as a spy and not as a deserter.” 

The affecting scene was interrupted by the discharge 


263 


of guns and the explosion of cannon ; sounds came from 
the direction of the ramparts ; the house trembled be- 
neath the fury of the artillery, while the cries and roars 
and shrieks of the affrighted crowd arose in the streets. 
Then there came a moment of silence and after it a 
mighty crowd rushing through the avenue beneath the 
windows of the consulate, panic-stricken, filled with 
terror, thinking of nothing but flight and safety. The 
roll of musketry followed them, and the echo of drums 
was heard indistinctly from the distance. 

“ What is that ?” the Comtesse exclaimed, anxiously. 

“An attempted assault by the French who have 
probably been repulsed,” Neipperg replied, coldly. 
“ See here, Henriot, if you refuse to serve Austria, you 
must consider yourself in a dangerous position here 
and must submit to the rigorous laws of a besieged city. 
But there is yet time for you to reflect.” 

“ I have reflected, and this is my response,” Henriot 
said fiercely, and striding to the window he threw it 
violently open, looked down upon the crowd of affrighted 
citizens as they rushed along, and then leaning well out 
so they all might see him, he shouted in a voice that was 
heard above the noise of the masses: 

“ Long live the Emperor ! ” 

“ Unfortunate, unfortunate ! Nothing can save him 
now,” and Neipperg fell upon the lounge unmanned 
and feeling he was powerless to shield the son, who so 
rashly refused his aid. He pressed his wdfe in his arms, 
and neither found voice for a word. 

But to this seditious cry that Henriot hurled defiantly 
forth from the window, a responsive voice came up from 
below: 

“ Long live the Emperor ! Here we are, commandant; 
we have 'arrived in time, thank God! En avant, my 
friends! The commandant is there! ” 

And the gigantic silhouette of Violette, wearing his 
enormous tricolored plume and brandishing his baton, 
appeared before the window and behind him the deter- 
mined faces of eight tall Grenadiers. Violette climbed 
on to the balcony, laughing: 

“ This is my particular way of getting in here.” 

The Grenadiers rushed into the court below, and in an 
instant Henriot again found himself at the head of his 
men. 

“ Down with your guns ! ” commanded Violette, drop- 
ping his baton ; “ respect the conquered, Danzig i§ 


264 


taken. We have no right to touch a hair of the head of 
its defenders; that is the order of the Marshal. Marshal 
Kalkreuth has surrendered and the city is ours. Long 
live the Emperor ! ” 

The capture of Danzig was accomplished. 

The delayed reinforcements had arrived. Marshal 
Mortier, Oudinot with liis Grenadiers, Marshal Lannes 
with his infantry reserve, had come to support 
the besieging force. Oudinot Avith his Grenadiers 
chased back the Russians and made it impossible for 
them to aid the Prussians. In the final combat where 
three marshals of France were personally involved, a 
Russian bullet passed between Oudinot and Lannes as 
they were conferring and happily missed them both. 
Oudinot had a horse killed under him and the uniform 
of Lannes was covered with dirt and blood. 

In the midst of the conflict an interesting incident 
occurred: England had sent a man-of-war to the aid of 
Danzig, and it had kept near the city supplying the be- 
sieged with munitions. One of the corvettes that ac- 
companied it, the Dauntless^ had profited by a slight 
trouble further North to sail up the Vistula, but being 
attacked by a vigorous artillery fire from the French it 
attempted to retreat when it ran on a sand-bank, and 
was captured by a company of Grenadiers. 

Marshal Lefebvre decided to make the grand stroke 
himself. It was with joy he saw his wife return from 
her perilous mission and relieve him of the anxiety of 
her presence in the city he proposed to storm; the news 
she liad brought to him of Henriot saddened him, for he 
had no faith in the promises made to her, and it was this 
feeling that prompted him to hasten the assault. 

At six o’clock on the evening of May 21st, following 
the order of Lefebvre, four columns of 4,000 men each ad- 
vanced against the city. They were sheltered some- 
what by an earthwork, and they were ordered to make 
their advance in silence awaiting a signal before the 
final dash. The ramparts against which they marched 
were formidable and were defended by heavy palisades, 
strengthened by mud and sand impervious to bullets 
and difficult to break. Three enormous beams were 
suspended above the ramparts by heavy ropes ready to 
be precipitated upon the advancing troops. As the 
columns lay quiet awaiting the signal for. the charge, 
Violette approached General Lariboiser, who led the 
sappeurs and said to him ; 


265 


^‘General, there are without doubt many braver men 
than I in the army, but they may not think of this, 
and so I propose you allow me to go forward and 
cut the ropes that are holding up those beams. My 
height will give me an advantage in doing it.” 

The general seized Violette’s hand and shook it 
warmly, saying: 

“ Go, my brave fellow and receive the salute of a 
thousand men.” 

Violette, who had supplied himself with an axe, glided 
quietly forward and when he came under the walls of 
the ramparts, he worked his way gradually to the point 
where the ropes supporting the beams were concentrated 
and raising himself to full height, he brought his hatchet 
down across them, they parted and the great wooden 
structure fell harmlessly to the ground. 

At the first blow of the hatchet, Lefebvre brandished 
his sabre above his head and shouted: 

“ Grenadiers, advance ! Danzig is ours ! ” 

They came like a torrent, a cataract of men, a furious 
flood carrying everything before it and they swarmed 
over the ramparts without firing a shot. The fleeing 
Prussians rallied and opened a fire of musketry and 
cannon, but nothing could stop the advance of the vic- 
torious French; Marshal Kalkreuth realized resistance 
was useless and he surrendered to Colonel Lacoste. 

It was then eight o’clock in the evening. 

The firing ceased and Marshal Lefebvre considered 
the conditions of surrender. He consented to a sus- 
pension of arms until he had advised Napoleon of the 
capture of the city, and asked from him the terms of 
its capitulation. 

It was during the conferences between Lefebvre and 
Kalkreuth that Violette made his way to the Austrian 
Consulate. 


XLVII. 

napoleon’s secret. 

The news of the fall of Danzig carried immeasurable 
joy to the heart of Napoleon and he decided at once to 
visit the city, wishing to study in person its defenses and 
to acquaint himself with its resources. It required but 
little time to prepare for the short journey and within a 
few hours after the arrival of the courier with the tidings 


266 


of the victory, Napoleon had left his headquarters at 
Finckenstein and was travelling towards Danzig.' 

The Emperor publicly complimented Lefebvre on his 
surpassing bravery and congratulated General Chas- 
seloup on his engineering work, and had seated himself 
to study the provisions of the surrender and arrange for 
the formal triumphal entry of the victorious troops into 
the city, when Rapp entered his tent with the announce- 
ment that the Marchioness Lefebvre requested an 
audience. 

“ How is that, the marchioness here ! ” he exclaimed 
in surprise. “They say she is very much attached to 
her husband, an excellent example; but that is no reason 
why she should follow him to the camp; the place for 
the wives of our marshals is at court, with their Empress, 
and the place for their husbands is in the trenches with 
their troops.” 

But the Emperor checked himself and then continued: 

“ True I have discouraged Josephine coming here, she 
said in her last letter she had an irresistible desire to 
join me in Poland. Perhaps she would find the Poles 
worse than the snow of their infernal country. I won- 
der though if Josephine could have sent the marchioness 
here to watch me ? We will see ! I am an old monkey 
to be caught making faces. Rapp, show in the march- 
ioness.” 

Catharine never felt fully at her ease in the presence 
of Napoleon, for he had a way of looking at one that 
was most searching ; his glance seemed to penetrate 
into one’s soul. Nor was he always polite, but fre- 
quently exceedingly brusque and curt, and at such 
times he made no difference in the way he treated men 
or women. 

He did not entertain that reverent regard for women 
that many do, and numerous anecdotes are told and 
many of his comments about women are repeated. 
Some of these are brutally blunt, as was his famous 
response to a question by Madame de Stael. That in- 
sufferable blue-stocking asked him one day : 

“ General, what woman in France do you admire the 
most? ” and she awaited the answer she thought would 
be a compliment to herself. 

“ The one who has the most children ! ” Napoleon re- 
plied, sharply. 

Many times Catharine heard ungracious repartees 
that had fallen' from the lips of the Emperor when he had 


267 


been too ardently or unwisely pursued by the ladies of 
the Court, desirous of attracting the attention of the 
ruler, and who, like la Remusat, after meeting rebuke 
had taken their revenge by setting his words down on 
paper as the needless insults from an unprovoked man. 

And yet she did not fear his presence so much as she 
might, because she knew how to make answers herself ; 
as she had often said, her tongue was not carried in her 
pocket, and she recalled the fact that she had known 
him when he was an artillery officer without a sou in 
the world, and the remembrance of that last day at the 
Hotel de Metz when she returned the linen and was re- 
warded by his amorous attack often served to give her 
assurance. 

Still, it was not without a lively uncertainty in her 
heart that she entered the tent when Rapp raised the 
canvas and introduced her. 

After having made her best courtesies, in conformity 
with the lessons given her by Despreaux, the march- 
ioness remained silent, awaiting the Emperor’s ques- 
tions. Napoleon was in an especially good humor ; the 
capture of Danzig was pleasing ; he had nothing but 
esteem for this noble wife of brave Lefebvre and respect 
for her bravery in crossing disturbed Europe with so 
simple an escort. 

Catharine, encouraged by the manner of the Emperor, 
who invited her to be seated, began her story, but was 
cautious how she told it. She reminded him of the con- 
stant anxiety of the Empress, how she always saw 
imaginary dangers near to His Majesty while he was 
away from her, how she was uneasy unless she learned 
daily of his health. Finally she reached the first object 
of her mission, she repeated the sad incidents attend- 
ing the death of Napoleon Charles, the child of Hor- 
tense. 

A sob, short and sharp, stirred the breast of Napoleon. 
The Enriperor loved the child, this unpitying conqueror, 
this destroyer of generations, this ravager of continents 
had the feebleness to adore children. “ He loved his 
son, this vanquisher,” said Victor Hugo, and in his prison 
at Saint Helena, he carried a picture of a child, the sole 
inheritor of his genius. 

Many times had Catharine seen him playing with Na- 
poleon Charles, holding him in his lap during dinner 
and setting him on the table itself among the plates, 
the silver service, the sweets and laughing heartily when 


the child in his merriment would plunge his foot into 
a dish of delicacies. Or he would take the baby into 
his private room, and would interrupt his studying of 
a plan of battle, or stop his dictation of instructions to 
some prefect, to feed patties to the infant or carry it 
around on his back. He was always “Uncle Bibiche,” 
this was the name Napoleon Charles in his infantile 
prattle gave to the great conqueror. 

Napoleon intended to adopt this child of Hortense ; 
without doubt he did not entirely ignore the scandalous 
stories that were circulated about him; he knew the 
libelers insinuated he had married his stepdaughter to 
Louis when she was giving evidence of an Imperial love. 
The Monite^ir had announced, according to usage in 
such instances, that “ Madame Louis Bonaparte gave 
birth to a son on the i8 Vendemiaire,” as if the heir to 
the Empire were born. But Napoleon was not a man 
to be stopped in his projects by the fear of gossip or by 
the tongues of scandal. He had studied the possibility 
of willing his crown to the child of Hortense and gave 
no heed to the suspicions that credited him with its 
paternity. The death of the boy disturbed all his plans, 
chaiTged his projects. 

For some minutes after Catharine had told of the un- 
happy event Napoleon remained wrapped in thought 
and speechless, without moving, without changing his 
position. Then he raised his head and making a strong 
effort at self-control, smothering his emotion and clear- 
ing his voice, he asked: 

“ What other news do you bring, marchioness ? ” 

“ Sire, in this world the sadness and the joys follow 
each other, and births alternate with deaths. I am not 
only the messenger of unpleasant tidings, I have also to 
make knbwn the birth of a child that, without consoling 
you for the loss you have just sustained, may serve to 
lessen your sorrow. A lady of .the court who was 
attached to the household of Her Highness, Princess 
Caroline, is a mother 

“ Eleonore has a baby. A son, perhaps ? ” Napoleon 
cried joyfully. 

“Yes, sire, a son, and he has received the name of 
Leon.” 

Napoleon extended both hands to Catharine: 

“ You are certain of what you say?” 

“Perfectly, sire; I have seen the child — it resembles 
you.” 


269 


The Emperor looked fixedly at Catharine but there 
was no sign of anger in his manner at this remark. 

“ It is not untruly- that you are called Sans-Gene,” and 
the Emperor playfully fondled Catharine’s cheek and 
then walked quickly up and down the narrow limits of 
his tent, when ceasing his nervous movement he con- 
tinued: “You have Napoleon’s secret, be good enough 
to guard it.” 

“ Sire, I have also a secret of the Empress and my 
duty is to confide it to you.” 

“Josephine has a secret ? She has charged you with 
making me acquainted with it! What is it then ? I pre- 
sume some new debt incurred to her dressmaker or fur- 
nisher 1 Josephine is fond of dressmakers. With the 
money she spends foolishly each year, I could arm a 
man-of-war, send a division by the way of the canal 
from Bordeaux and open the route to Mayence. Go on, 
tell me of this new folly. Tell me the sum quick, how 
much ? ” 

“ Sire, it is not a matter of money.” 

' “And what then is it, if you please ? ” 

“ The Empress who is so good and who loves you so 
tenderly is aware of the birth of this babe ” 

“ Ah 1 the Empress knows ” 

“ She has been made acquainted with all 1 Your 
Majesty has many envious and unscrupulous members 
of your court 

“ Yes, I understand, my wife is opposed by my sisters 
Elisa and Caroline, who are actuated by sentiments I 
much regret. Ah, marchioness, my family has given me 
more trouble than all the kings of Europe put together. 
Well, what did the Empress say ? I am curious to know 
her sentiments concerning the child.” 

“The Empress wishes Your Majesty’s permission to 
adopt the child.” 

“ Yes,” the Emperor replied after a moment’s thought. 
“ I can see that the adoption of this infant would be a 
new and powerful assistance. ^ Murat, Louis, Joseph, 
all those who dream of succeeding me would doubtless 
abandon their hopes, their illusions. The adoption of 
this child would give me an heir. But what would 
the kings of Europe say ? Would they recognize 
the rights of such an heir? Would that I might have 
a child, an heir, a Napoleon IL, from some reigning 
family.” 

The Emperor ceased speaking, fearing he had already 


said too much and his suspicious glance was again 
fixed on the marchioness who in her turn made a deep 
reverence, saying: 

“ Sire, my mission is ended. I shall take my leave 
with the permission of Your Majesty, who will doubtless 
make known your decision on this matter to the Em- 
press. I return to France happy in having found Your 
Majesty enjoying good health, and always victorious. ” 

“ Thanks to your husband, marchioness. And thanks 
to you for your good news.” 

The Emperor, radiant with smiles, extended his hand 
to Catherine signifying that the interview was at an 
end. 

XLVIII. 

THE LOVES OF NAPOLEON. 

The divorce! The great event of the Imperial life 
has not yet emerged from its obscurity in the mind of 
the Emperor; it was one of those confused perceptions 
of a possible event, but improbable, that floated 
through his brain until it became a fact. 

At several times during his married life, Napoleon 
had considered some means for breaking the marriage 
with Josephine. First, when returning from Egypt, 
Bonaparte had been informed of the wild excesses in- 
dulged in by his volatile Creole, again when the religious 
marriage was consummated and finally at the moment 
of departure for the campaign in Germany. Fouche, 
one of the most ardent counsellors of this divorce, had 
advised, urged, sought in every way to bring it about, 
but Josephine invariably, after an interview with the 
Emperor, dispelled all immediate danger of such an 
incident. 

But on the field of battle the vanquisher of Europe 
had himself been vanquished. The infidelities that 
Napoleon had enjoyed up to this moment are well 
worth recapitulation. For the names of the mistresses 
of Napoleon are pretty generally known. The Duchess 
d’Abrantes, Mademoiselle d’Avrillon, Constant, Bour- 
rienne. Fain and many others who have written familiar 
memoirs or apocryphal histories and royalist libels, have 
given us a complete picture of the loves of Bonaparte 
and of the Emperor. Finally M. Frederic Masson, in a 
book that is strengthened by indisputable documents, 
exceedingly interesting and impartial, offers us an anec- 


271 . 


dotal history of the Imperial mistresses. And none of 
these amiable ladies ever had the slightest influence 
upon Napoleon’s actions. 

We know little of his liaisons when as an officer he 
was poor, laborious, nervous and not companionable, 
yet it is probable that at Valence or at Auxonne his love 
adventures were numerous, although there is no evidence 
of their having existed beyond the evening of their 
occurrence, There is attributed to him during the cam- 
paign of Piedmont, an episode with Madame Turreau, 
the wife of the representative at that place. Her hus- 
band never seems to have entertained any suspicion of 
the affair, or at least if he did it was never apparent. 
.The reward of his ignorance came-with the 13 Vende- 
miaire when Napoleon chose Turreau as General of the 
Army of the Interior, and, with the influence of Barras, 
made him commander-in-chief of the troops of the Con- 
vention. Later Bonaparte extended still greater favors 
to Turreau giving him an influential post in the army 
of Italy which was lucrative, and when Turreau died 
Napoleon'lavished upon his widow ample means for her 
luxurious support and the gratification of all her wishes. 

One of his most romantic liaisons was that in which Ma- 
dame Foures figures as the heroine. At Cairo, at a ball, 
given in a public garden called the Tivoli, operated upon 
the same plan as the famous Vauxhall of Paris, Napoleon 
one evening met a charming little blonde, who was 
noticeable among the ladies of dark skin and black hair, 
and the elder ladies who had come down from Marseilles 
or Malta to mingle with the enjoyments of this attrac- 
tive resort. Napoleon was enchained by the woman’s 
beauty and upon inquiry learned that she was a French 
modiste by name Marguerite Pauline Bellisle,’ who had 
married a man named Foures. Shortly after the cere- 
mony the husband, who was a lieutenant in the Twenty- 
second Chasseurs, was ordered to join his regiment in 
Egypt. This threatened separation in the very begin- 
ning of their honeymoon brought sadness into the hearts 
of the two lovers, and it finally resulted in the wife re- 
solving to disguise herself in the costume of a chasseur, 
and slip aboard the vessel that was to convey her hus- 
band to Africa. 

We have seen in the beginning of this history that 
Rene disguised in the attire of a man that she might 
follow her lover Marcel. It was only after she reached 
Cairo that Madame Foures resumed her proper dres^. 


272 


Bonaparte was pleased with her spirit, but for several 
days she refused the presents he offered her and resisted 
his importunities. Finally she consented, and her hus- 
band as often appears in the tangled plot of comic opera, 
was entrusted with a mission of great importance to 
France and embarked for that country. He sailed alone, 
carrying with him testimonials from the commander-in- 
chief as to his capacity, his ability, his bravery; he was 
instructed to convey to the Directory a message of the 
highest importance, and when the mission was completed 
he was to return to Egypt. 

The officer, delighted with the honor done him, took 
the ship forthwith, while Bonaparte, so soon as it sailed, 
gave a royal dinner to the pretty Madame Foures and a 
distinguished company. 

The general installed Madame Foures in a handsome 
house near the palace occupied by himself, and Foures 
was hastening towards Paris to confer with the Direc- 
tors at the Luxembourg, and return as speedily as pos- 
sible to his companion. 

Unhappily for his peace of mind the ship upon which 
he sailed was captured by an English cruiser, and when 
his story was told to the English Admiral, that shrewd 
dignitary discerned the farce Bonaparte had played and 
giving the husband some sarcastic advice, he set him at 
liberty and saw that he was taken back to Egypt. Foures 
re-entered Cairo wild with anger and jealousy; he would 
not appeal to his general, but he would go before a 
magistrate and demand a divorce from the frivolous 
wife. It was granted him promptly, and Madame Foures 
resumed her maiden name, Pauline Bellisle, which later 
became corrupted into Bellilote. Bonaparte seriously 
loved her and she accompanied him on horseback in the 
hunts and other pleasure excursions he made into the 
country; she rode with him at the reviews and appeared 
at his side at the fetes; it was rumored he intended to 
marry her and divorce Josephine, and he agreed to do 
so if she had a child. But to her great misfortune she 
was no more successful in this direction than had been 
Josephine. Madame Foures started for France after 
the departure of Bonaparte, but the vessel upon which 
she went was also captured by the English, and when 
she was set at liberty with Junot and several other offi- 
cers and savants, who were taken with her, the reconcil- 
iation between Josephine and Bonaparte had been com- 
plete and the i8 Brumaire had been accomplished. The 


^73 


First Consul thought it best not to introduce Bellilote 
into tlie palace, but he purcliased and presented to her 
a magnificent chateau, settled a sum upon her that 
made her independently wealthy and married her to 
one of the gentlemen of his court, who received as a 
wedding present a commission as Consul of the French 
Government. 

But the young lady could not resist the temptation 
for adventure, so she left her second husband and ran 
away with a lover, named Bellard, to Brazil. She re- 
turned to Paris at the time of the Restoration, and with 
the natural ingratitude of those who had profited by 
Napoleon’s generosit}^, she became a fervent and aggres- 
sive royalist. 

Bonaparte had very little taste for artistic pleasures; 
he cared nothing for painting, liis literary favorites were 
those that dealt with tragedy of the most pompous 
tone; great sentiments and majestic people or terrible 
events were the only things that appealed to his mind. 
Music, that is heavy,^ religious music, exercised a pro- 
found influence upon him. Personally he had no talent 
in this direction; he was incapable of distinguishing a 
false from a true note, paid little attention to symphony, 
but was peculiarly moved by the sound of a good voice. 
He was affected to tears when the soprano Crescentini 
sang, and he did not hesitate during his tour in Italy in 
bestowing upon each musical eunuch the Order of the 
Iron Crown. The passion he conceived for Grassini, the 
celebrated singer, was as much influenced by admira- 
tion for her voice as for her personal beauty. He met 
her in Milan; he admired her and he visited her. He 
invited her to Paris; she accepted- the invitation and 
located in a little house on the Rue Chantereine, and 
quickly became wearied. A violinist, named Rode, 
offered his attentions and she accepted them. Bonaparte, 
informed of this by Fouche, ceased visiting her but 
notwithstanding when she later became a favorite in 
London and at The Hague, she would pass through 
Paris and the Emperor would call upon her each night, 
invariably leaving a handsome souvenir of his visit. 
Grassini was touched with the traditional ingratitude 
that in this case might almost be interpreted into treason. 
Not only did she sing at the home of the Duke of Wel- 
lington, but, while her imperial lover languished at 
Saint Helena, she became the favorite of the victor of 
Waterloo. 


274 


Five or six women, actresses, singers, tragediennes 
served, as the ephemeral companions of the Emperor. 
We can recall Madamoiselle Bran'chu of the Opera, who 
was an admirable lyric tragedienne; Madamoiselle 
Bourgoihs who had the cruelty to declare one night in 
Napoleon’s room while he was talking with Chaptal, 
that she filled the proud position of his mistress; 
Madamoiselle George, the superb and imposing queen 
of the theatre, she remained faithful to the memory of 
the fallen Emperor, and her fidelity to the great man 
who loved her was the means of her exclusion from the 
Theatre-Fran9ais, done at the instigation of some noble 
• gentlemen of the Chamber and of the captains of the 
King’s Guard who were entrusted with the adminstra- 
tion of this place of amusement ! 

Napoleon, always busy, always working sought love 
at his door. He loved pleasure that came to him with- 
out vast labor, and so it is difiicult to estimate the vast 
number of ladies of the palace, wives of the chamber- 
lains and of the officers, companions of the Empress, 
who passed in at the little apartments in the Tuileries 
to which Constant held the keys. The apprehension of 
a favorite, such as Montespan, Maintenon, Pompadour 
or Du Barry of the Old Monarchy did not deter him 
from establishing relations with , the famous adventuress 
Madame de Vaudey. 

This intriguing lady and marvellous coquette was the 
daughter of a military celebrity, Richaud d’Arcon, who 
had captured Breda and drawn up the plans for the 
campaign in Holland. The daughter married Captain 
de Vaudey and was made a lady of the palace in 1804 
accompanying the Empress to Aix-la-Chapelle. It was 
in the course of this trip where Napoleon had joined 
Josephine that the acquaintance was made between 
them. One day shortly after their intimacy had com- 
menced Madame de Vaudey pretended to commit 
suicide in order to procure a considerable sum of money 
she required 'from the Emperor. She wrote Napoleon 
of her needs and her approach to death and the Emperor 
promptly responded with the sum requested, but un- 
happily for her the aide whom he sent with the money 
found Madame de Vaudey at her house in Auteuil pre- 
siding over a joyous supper that was spread out with 
all the extravagance of an aristocrat. This female, by 
the way, calumniated the memory of Napoleon in the 
ridiculous memoirs she wrote and which were published 



SHE WAS EM15AKUASSE1) IN I'llE EKESENCE OF THE EMPEKOU. 




by Ladvocate, and she offered her services to Prince 
Polignac when the attempt was made to assassinate the 
Emperor. 

Amid the lesser loves Madamoiselle Lacoste was ■ 
noticeable, a little blonde who was not admitted to the 
salon of the Empress but who occupied her time in 
the ante-chamber. Her name was Felicite, she was 
a daughter of one of the Emperor’s collectors, who 
also enjoyed the added function of opening the doors 
when their majesties approached. There was also 
Madame Gazzani, reader, who was recommended by M. 
de Remusat, and she was quickly succeeded by Made- 
moiselle Guillebeau. This lady lost her position by an 
unfortunate accident, through a letter from her mother 
in which that estimable lady gave her daughter a variety 
of politic but too practical advice. The letter fell into 
the hands of Napoleon and Mademoiselle Guillebeau 
was forthwith deposed. 

Finally there came upon the scene the true mistress 
of the Emperor whom ho loved profoundly and who, on 
her part, remained faithful to him until his exile, Com- 
tesse Walewski, the beautiful Pole. 

During the siege of Danzig and while the Emperor 
was on his way to Varsova and waiting a relay of 
horses, he received a deputation of local nobles. 
During the reception he was presented with a beautiful 
bouquet, and the lady who made the presentation was 
very young, almost a child, a blonde with a fresh color, 
charming in her manners and possessing large, frank, 
blue eyes. She was embarrassed in the presence of the 
Emperor and her emotion added to her attraction. The 
Emperor endeavored to reassure her by a few words; 
he thanked her for the compliment extended to him, 
and taking the bouquet expressed the hope of another 
early visit to Varsova. 

This young woman, by name Marie Lazinska, was 
married to Comte Anastase Colonna de Walewski. The 
comte was seventy years of age^, the comtesse nineteen. 
In order to marry him, the wife had refused an attrac- 
tive young man bearing a respected name, very rich 
and very influential, but this young man was^ named 
Orloff, he was a Russian and belonged to a family that 
had oppressed and terrorized Poland. The old Comte 
Walewski, on the contrary, was a worthy patriot and 
Marie carried in her bosom the soul of a genuine 
heroine. Love of country dominated everything else; 


276 


she gave her hand to the old noble as she would have 
given a son to the deliverance of Poland. The young 
comtesse watched with enthusiasm the triumphant 
march of Napoleon. Would not he inflict upon the 
Russians the most terrible punishment ? At Austerlitz 
she trembled with joy; the campaign of 1807 filled her 
with exultation. She already saw Napoleon the con- 
queror slaughtering the oppressive Moscovites and re- 
toring Poland to its patriots. On her part admiration 
for the Emperor had taken a place that upon the first 
occasion gave way to another sentiment, sweeter and 
more subtle. 

The friends of Comte Walewski, patriots like himself,' 
hoping to achieve the independence of Poland through 
the genius of Napoleon, with one accord did all in their 
power to throw the beautiful comtesse into the arms of 
the Emperor. The attentions that Napoleon had shown 
the- comtesse at a ball given in his honor had not 
escaped them, the absent-mindedness, the distractions 
of Napoleon during a dinner where she was present 
strengthened their feeling that the sentiment aroused 
could be used in furthering the good cause. Duroc 
aided them; he declared the Emperor was deeply im- 
pressed and insinuated that the comtesse could use her 
influence over him for the good of her country. All the 
world conspired against her virtue. The love of Napo- 
leon already aroused found further encouragement in the 
words of those about him; the Polish nobles reminded 
the comtesse of the history of Esther who employed 
her beauty to conquer Ahasuerus and deliver the people 
of Israel. They urged, they entreated, they beseeched, 
the eyes of the nation were upon the Imperial bed and 
the comtesse finally consented to a dishonor that would 
bring glory upon her country. 

Napoleon wrote tender notes, impassioned declara- 
tions, sent beautiful presents; the comtesse refused the 
gifts, made no response to the written words. Finally 
the schemers obtained her consent to an interview with 
the Emperor ; she approached him as a suppliant to 
right the wrongs of her people; Duroc introduced her 
into one of the rooms of the palace, she concealed her 
eyes with her hands and sank upon the fauteuil. 

Napoleon covered her hands with kisses ; she shed 
tears; she was silent. Napoleon had the tact not to 
startle her by any brusque or careless words, and she 
returned to her home as she left it. The respectful 


attitude of the Emperor had reassured her, and when a 
second audience was arranged for another day she went 
to it more readily. Between two outbursts of affec- 
tion, between two kisses, she found an opportunity 
to speak for her country to the impassioned Emperor 
who at that moment had no thought aside from amor- 
ous phrases. 

It is not claimed that Marie Walewski loved Napoleon 
when she became his mistress; but the attachment was 
strong and when she had given him a son, who as 
Comte Walewski was President of the Corps Legislatif 
under the Second Empire, her love burst into a veritable 
passion. On his part, Napoleon was sincere in his affec- 
tion, and he ceased his indiscriminate relations until 
after his marriage with Marie Louise. The comtesse 
visited the Emperor at Elba, and during the Hundred 
Days she did not leave his side. 

News of the birth of the child to Eleonore, brought 
by Marchioness Lefebvre, had turned the thoughts of 
the Emperor away from the beautiful Pole. Why should 
he not adopt this child ? 

And if he decided not to adopt it, why should he not 
look to some of the reigning families for a princess who 
would marry him and would give him a son that might 
have a king for grandfather; a king of such position 
as none thereafter would dare to contest the right to 
the inheritance of the Empire? 

For the first time this revelation that he might have a 
son brought to the thoughts of Napoleon the realiza- 
tion of Josephine’s age, and rapidly there ran through 
his mind the list of young and agreeable princesses in 
the courts of Europe one of whom he could make 
Empress. 

His meditations were interrupted by Rapp, with in- 
formation that the army was ready to move and that 
Marshal Lefebvre had given his orders for the formal 
entrance into the city of Danzig. 


XLIX. 

THE DUKE. 

On the 26th of May, 1807, Marshal Lefebvre made 
his triumphal entry into the city of Danzig. 

He invited his two colleagues Marshal Lannes and 


278 


Marshal Mortier to ride on either side of him passing 
down in review between the two ranks of troops and 
be with him in receiving the salute and the sword of 
Marshal Kalkreuth when he defiled out with the con- 
quered garrison. Lannes and Mortier declined, Lefebvre 
alone was entitled to the honors of the triumph, having 
taken upon himself the responsibility and the dangers 
of this memorable siege. 

Each regiment that had participated in the capture 
of the city contributed a detachment to the guard of 
honor, and they entered with drums sounding and flags 
waving in the train of their glorious chief. The en- 
gineers were at the head, and out of six hundred men 
composing this select battalion the greater number 
had fallen in the trenches. The Emperor recognized 
the value of these experts and the order of the day 
before the entrance into the city was read in the pres- 
ence of the entire army: 

“ Danzig has capitulated and our troops will enter 
there to-day at noon. His Majesty expresses his satis- 
faction to the besieging forces. The engineers have 
covered themselves with glory.” 

The siege lasted fifty-one days. The formidable 
defences of the place, the force that was numerically as 
great within the city as that posted without the walls, 
the insufficiency of artillery on the part of the besiegers, 
the severe climate, the snow, the r^in, the high winds 
had all contributed to prolong the resistance. The 
garrison suffered severely. Out of 18,320 men, 7,120 
only left the city alive. 

The moral effect of the fall of Danzig was consider- 
able. The material result was also very great; Napo- 
leon found in the city immense quantities of military 
stores, grain and wines, all of which was sent to the 
cantonments of Passarge. The precious liquor in 
this chilling climate came to the army like a veritable 
revivifying cordial, an elixir of good health and good 
humor. 

Two days after the entrance of Lefebvre, the Em- 
peror visited the trenches and inspected the works and 
detailed the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth regiments 
of the line to garrison the deserted fortifications and 
occupy the city. Following this he invited all the com- 
manders to a grand banquet at which Lefebvre sat upon 
his right. 

Before the repast, while the generals and Marshals 


279 


Lefebvre, Lanries and Mortier awaited the entrance of 
the Emperor, the Grand Marshal Duroc appeared, car- 
rying a sword with a richly chiseled hilt, sparkling with 
diamonds. Immediately behind Duroc an officer bore 
a crimson velvet cushion upon which rested a gold 
crown. Duroc holding the sword and the officer with 
the cushion took their places at either side the throne 
that was reserved for Napoleon. 

A moment later the doors were thrown back and the 
Emperor appeared wearing the ordinary uniform of a 
colonel of the Chasseurs, and with a glance that was 
half quizzical and half amused looked at the sword and 
the crown. 

Napoleon turned before the throne and throwing his 
eyes over^the brilliant company gathered there, he said 
in a loud voice to Duroc: 

“ Will you request our dear and well beloved Lefebvre 
to approach ! ” 

Duroc made a military salute and stepping to the 
side of Lefebvre, escorted him before the Emperor. 

Mechanically the Marshal put forth his hand, believ- 
ing the Emperor intended to confer the tribute of a 
public congratulation on the capture of Danzig and the 
further honor of a fraternal embrace. 

But Napoleon continued: 

“ Grand Marshal, will you request the Duke of Danzig 
to bend his knee to receive his investiture.” 

Lefebvre, at the utterance of this unknown and singu- 
lar title, changed his position as though to make way for 
some foreign dignitary, some Prussian or Russian per- 
haps, for there was no such title and no such duchy 
among the French. But Duroc approached again and 
whispered in the Marshal’s ear: 

“ Kneel ! ” 

Lefebvre sank to the ground beneath the pressure of 
Duroc’s hand, and the Emperor taking the crown from 
its cushion placed it upon the Marshal’s head. 

Stupefied, speechless, Lefebvre failed to fully under- 
stand the real meaning of this beautiful ceremony of 
which he was the central figure. Napoleon, taking the 
sword, gave three light taps upon the shoulder of Le- 
febvre, saying with great gravity: 

“ In the name of the Emperor, by the grace of God and 
in virtue of the national will, Lefebvre, I make you this 
day Duke of Danzig, for you to have and to enjoy the ad- 
vantages and privile'ges we have attached to that dignity.” 


280 


And then in his natural voice: 

“ Arise, Duke of Danzig, and embrace your Emperor/' 

Immediately the drum corps, stationed beneath the 
windows, beat the long roll, and the marshals and gen- 
erals and officers crowded around the newly created 
noble, offering their felicitations. 

It was a politic act of enormous importance, this ele- 
vation of a common soldier to one of the titles abolished 
by the revolution, made odious to the nation, forgotten 
after being ridiculed. 

Napoleon wished to strengthen his throne and his 
dynasty by the aid of a hew aristocracy; he had endeav- 
ored by a thousand seductions, by advantageous mar- 
riages, by employments, by appointments to attract to 
his court the representatives of the former aristocracy. 
Now he had resolved to create a nobility of his own. He 
wished to organize a new society having its degrees, its 
ranks, its hierarchies, in a superb pyramid at the sum- 
mit of which, isolated by his grandeur, he, the Emperor, 
would stand. 

In the rank beneath him would be his brothers made 
by him kings, Louis having Holland, Joseph having 
Spain, Jerome having Westphalia. 

A little below this rank, his brother-in-law Murat, King 
of Naples, Eugene, Viceroy of Italy. 

Then the Princes, the great heroes of the battles, Ney, 
Berthier; the Dukes, Lefebvre, Augerau, Lannes, Vic- 
tor, Soult. The comtes and barons, financiers and dip- 
lomats, finally the plain cavaliers, legions that he had 
instituted. 

The new Duke, who with the sword and crown, re- 
ceived 100,000 francs, said to Duroc: 

“My wife will certainly be content! Catharine a 
Duchess 1 What do you think of that, Duroc?” 

And as he laughed at the thought, he caught sight of 
a young officer, attached to the suite of Marshal Lannes, 
who was afso laughing, but in a satirical manner, and 
who was distinguished solely for the reason that he was 
heir to a noble family. 

Lefebvre stepped towards him and said: 

“You laugh at me, monsieur, because I have a title 
I myself won, while with you it has been the acci- 
dent of birth that you chance to be a comte. Laugh, 
monsieur, in your vanity and boast of your descent. 
Each to his business ; you are a descendant, I am an 
ancestor.” 


2 $! 


Then, turning abruptly from the officer^ Lefebvre said 
to Du roc: 

“My dear Marshal, when will the Emperor give the 
signal for the banquet ? ” 

“ Are you hungry, Lefebvre ? ” 

“ No ! But the sooner he gives the signal, the sooner 
we shall be free. And I have an uncontrollable desire 
to be the first to embrace and congratulate Madame, the 
Duchess of Danzig.” 


L. 

WITH THE EMPRESS. 

They awaited the Emperor ! 

Victorious, master of Europe, having forced his 
friendship on Russia and his will on Prussia, Napoleon 
was approaching for a triumphal entry into Paris. 

By his orders Josephine had given a series of brilliant 
receptions, attended by the great personages of France, 
the diplomatic corps, the representatives of the various 
Kings. A soiree had been especially arranged at the 
Tuileries in honor of the new Duchess of Danzig. All 
the grand world, active and filled with intrigue, occupied 
itself with this reception; sarcastic faggots from the ex- 
tinguished fire of an old aristocracy asked ironically 
how the duchess would maintain her rank. Evil tongues 
moved freely and recalled with savage pleasure the 
washerwoman days of the present duchess. 

Many of the gossiping women were sprung from an 
origin quite as humble and had been the heroines of 
questionable adventures, and the subjects of crying 
scandals. 

Catharine possessed a reputation that had never been 
questioned. She was ridiculed because of her principles 
and the love she felt for her husband. Washerwoman, 
cantiniere, wife of the general, of a great officer of the 
Empire, Madame Marchioness, she had, during her entire 
life, this daughter of the people who had become a 
crowned grande dame, but one lover — her husband, her 
Lefebvre. 

On his part, he had preserved a fidelity that was 
wonderfully rare among the warriors of the Empire. He 
had resisted the temptations that misled his Emperor, 
his master, his god; he truthfully said: “That is the 
only path where I cannot follow the Emperor,” and in 


282 


answer to his jocular companions who did not hesitate 
4:0 belittle his constancy he would say: 

“ If I deceived Catharine, don’t you see, how would it 
be possible for me to beat the Prussians ! I think con- 
stantly of her, then I should feel remorse, now it gives 
me a strong heart and an easy conscience to go into 
battle.” 

Brave Lefebvre never blushed for his conjugal virtue. 
He was, he never hesitated to say, in favor of probity, 
fidelity and patriotism. This untutored Achilles, coming 
from the ranks of the people, remained simple, republi- 
can, declined to be associated with Barras and Carnot 
in the Directory because he was not sufficiently educated, 
declared there were but three objects influencing his life 
his wife, his country, his Emperor. 

The Empress’s reception was at its height when the 
Duchess made her appearance, but Caroline and Elisa, 
Napoleon’s sisters, had already entered the room and 
had ample opportunity to indulge in their insolence and 
their insulting quarrels. Caroline was Queen of 
Naples, Elisa, the demoiselle of Saint-Cyr, possessed the 
principality of Piombino, and there was a constant 
rivalry of crimination and a battle of epigrams between 
the two sisters. 

In the brilliant circle where Josephine was the centre 
Junot filled an important and conspicuous position. 
Now Governor of Paris, this former sergeant whom Na- 
poleon had made aide-de-camp and general of division, 
was assiduous in his attentions to the Queen of Naples. 

Their love was open and scandalous. Junot’s carriage 
waited constantly before the palace of Caroline. Murat, 
occupied with his battles suspected nothing, and Junot, 
one of the most accomplished duellists of tlie day, was 
quite prepared to make Caroline a widow and share her 
throne. One fear alone controlled him, the coming of 
the Emperor. In the absence of Napoleon his entire 
Court was corrupt, abandoned, knew no restraint, no 
law. The rumor of his return compelled behavior on the 
part of those who were dependent upon his will, his glory 
and his disposition to maintain them in their positions. 
Alone, the two abominable scolds Napoleon was suf- 
ficiently unfortunate to have as sisters, dared to brave the 
anger of the great conqueror. Pauline Borghese was 
so free in her conduct as to be quite outside any oppor- 
tunity for excuse or concealment. 

Napoleon had the unfortunate weakness of adoring his 


283 


family, those remarkable creatures whose sole value con- 
sisted in the favors showered upon them by their brother. 
In the affair of Junot, the Emperor learned of it upon his 
return and he reproached his old friend, Sergeant Junot, 
bitterly, reduced him from his post as Governor of Paris 
and exiled him to Portugal with the grade of ambassa- 
dor and the title of Duke d’Abrantes. 

* The dynastic folly of Napoleon was more strongly 
displayed in his family and among his marshals than in 
his own person. 

Wedded to the Archduchess of Austria, father of the 
King of Rome, Napoleon believed he could dominate 
the assembly of kings,, but a Murat, a Junot, a Joseph to 
follow, as ruler of France and of the world — what folly! 
This folly served the purpose of the traitors, of Talley- 
rand, Fouche, Bernadotte, Marmont in their terrible 
treason of delivering France to the strangers, thanks to 
the connivance of the infamous Marie Louise and her 
good friends the Cossacks and the Prussians. 

At the hour the Marchioness Lefebvre repaired to the 
apartments of the Empress the brave Marshal dined 
with the Emperor, and during the meal Lefebvre was 
singularly embarrassed several times. Upon each occa- 
sion, it was when Napoleon addressed him as “Duke,” 
the title was too recent to be readily recognized and 
too exalted for him to grasp with the facility that had 
attended his humbler rank. 

Napoleon always delighted in pleasantry, and he 
found much satisfaction in tormenting Lefebvre ; he 
knew the Marshal to be honest and poor; he had made 
him a Duke, he proposed to make him rich. 

During the dinner Napoleon said suddenly: 

“ Do you like chocolate, Duke ? ” 

“Yes, sire, I like chocolate if you wish it; I like 
everything you like.” 

“ Good 1 I am going to give you a sample of it; it is 
Danzig chocolate. It is only proper you should have 
a taste of the products of the city you have conquered.” 

Lefebvre bowed and maintained silence. He could not 
always understand the subtle jokes of the Emperor, and 
in such instances he took refuge in a polite salute and 
a discreet absence of reply. 

Napoleon arose and took from a table near by a 
square package that had the appearance of a chocolate 
cake. He returned to his seat and, handing the paper 
to the Duke, he said : 


284 


“Duke of Danzig, accept this chocolate! It is a 
small present prompted by friendship.’' 

Lefebvre took the package without evidence of any 
marked interest and nonchalantly dropped it into his 
pocket. 

‘‘ Sire, I thank you,” he said, “ I shall give this 
chocolate to the hospital ; it is excellent, they say, for 
the sick ” 

“ No,” quickly exclaimed the Emperor, “do nothing 
of the sort ! Keep it for yourself, I pray you.” 

And Lefebvre muttered to himself : 

“ Quaint idea that the Emperor should give me choc- 
olate as though I were a girl.” 

A pie representing the city of Danzig was served as 
the culminating effort of the chef, and Napoleon, ex- 
tending a knife to the duke, said : 

“ We will give this pie to you; it is your conquest 
and at your signal it shall be again destroyed. It is fit- 
ting that you should do the honors with such a dish.” 

Lefebvre cut into the pate and the diners speedily 
brought about its annihilation. The dinner was con- 
cluded, and Lefebvre returned to his quarters charmed 
with the amiability of his sovereign. 

“Too bad Catharine is not here,” he said to him- 
self. “ Never has His Majesty been in better humor. 
But what a singular present, this Danzig chocolate.” 

And unconsciously he broke the paper that enwrapped 
the sweets, when there within, in place of the expected 
delicacy, the duke saw carefully folded bank bills to the 
amount of three hundred thousand francs. 

It was a present that permitted the new Duke to main- 
tain his rank. 

The two sisters of Napoleon and the ladies in their 
train missed no opportunity to insult Catharine upon 
her humble origin, and they seized this reception of the 
Empress as a fitting occasion to humiliate her. 

Catharine Lefebvre in full court costume, her head 
bearing a dress of white ostrich feathers rising from her 
artistically arranged hair, a regal robe the work of 
Leroy, a long mantle in sky blue velvet with golden 
bees and the ducal crown embroidered in the corners, 
advanced radiant and beautiful into the salon. 

The Sans-Gene of earlier days was for a moment em- 
barrassed. She had that morning rehearsed with Des- 
preaux the ceremony of presentation as became her 
position of Duchess with the right to stand by the side 



“ TIIAT’cJ a lesson FOli you on- 


titles, 


OLD MAN.” 




28s 

of Queeri and Empress. The instruction passed through 
her mind as she held her train and stepped into the 
salon. The court usher, rouged, powdered, majestic, 
who had for many years fulfilled the duties of his office, 
announced in a loud voice : 

“ Madame, the Marchioness Lefebvre.” 

Catharine looked at him scathingly and said: 

“ Well, you don’t know your business, you fool! ” 

The Empress stepped from her throne and advanced 
towards the marchioness. Always gracious, always 
graceful, the Empress was never more elegant than 
when she extended her hand to the Duchess an.d said: 

How do I find you, this evening, Madame the 
Duchess of Danzig?” 

“ As solid as Pont Neuf ! ” Catharine responded un- 
abashed, “and I hope Your Majesty is in the same con- 
dition.” And then turning towards the usher she said: 

“That’s a lesson for you on titles, old man.” 

Catharine took her place in the circle of ladies, the 
centre of all eyes and the object of all comment. The 
Empress talked amiably with her and Catharine with 
her remarkable adaptability was soon completely at 
ease, but as she caught sight of the sneering smiles in- 
cited by Caroline and Elisa and evidently intended to 
disconcert the new duchess, Catharine exclaimed, 
angrily and aloud: 

“ Why are they all after me, those chippies there ? 
If the Emperor were only here it would give me real 
pleasure to see him put an end to their insults.” 

The conversation was general and lively but the poor 
Duchess found none, aside from the Empress, who ad- 
dressed their remarks to her, or who did her the honor 
of even responding to her questions. Catharine was en- 
raged at the studied attempt to belittle her presence and 
while considering in what manner she should repay 
the infamy, she was saluted by a tall, mysterious-look- 
ing man who said: 

“ You do not remember me. Duchess?” 

“ No, I do not, I suppose I have seen you somewhere.’* 

“ Exactly, we are old friends. Before you entered 
the high rank you now occupy I had the honor of your 
acquaintance.”, 

“ Oh, you mean when I was a washerwoman ! Well, 
I never forget anybody I knew at that time, nor does 
Lefebvre. You know I have always kept among my 
dresses one of the costumes I used to wear when I was 


286 

a working woman, and in -the same way Lefebvre has 
still the uniform he wore as sergeant in the French 
Guards.” 

“Ah, well. Duchess,” replied the man in an insinua- 
ting and quiet voice, “ the time when I knew you was 
far in the past; we met at one of the popular balls where 
I had the pleasure of enjoying your society; I was your 
guest, almost your friend; a fortune-teller, if you re- 
member, predicted that night that you would be a 
duchess some day.” 

“Yes, I remember it very well; it was a great night 
wasn’t it ? Lefebvre and I often speak of it. And didn’t 
the fortune-teller tell you anything that has come true ? ” 

“ He did; I have lived up to my^horoscope, and as for 
you, certainly you have realized it.” 

“ Yes, truly, and what did he predict for you ?” 

“ That I should one day become Minister of Police — 
and I am.” 

“You are M. Fouche?” said Catharine a trifle uneasy 
at the thought of this man, who with true feminine in- 
stinct she felt to be a traitor. 

“ At your service, Duchess. You have here several 
rivals, enemies, permit me to warn you of perils that are 
threatening. Do not give to these ladies the pleasure of 
profiting by some of your imprudences of comment, or 
your lack of acquaintance with the ceremonies of the 
court.” 

“You are very straightforward, M. Fouche, and I 
accept your offer,” Catharine replied with considerable 
good humor; “you have warned me in time; you know 
very well I am not thoroughly acquainted with their 
manners, but yet I am not ignorant what is proper 
to say in society; my fault is I do not always take 
the conventionalities into account; I turn my tongue 
loose and it goes as it wishes. I understand that 
you in the quality of Minister of Police can be very 
useful.” 

“There are some things I can do and others that 
are impossible,” replied Fouche, modestly. “But if you 
will be awake to the hints I will give you, I think you 
will avoid any unpleasant incidents from these ladies 
who are disposed to criticise you.” 

“M. Fouche, you oblige me greatly, I am so uneasy 
amid ceremonies of the palace that I never leave the 
door without wishing I were back in my canteen.” 

“Very well, Duchess; I know they are trying to 


2S7 


entrap you into certain expressions, and I will protect 
you if you will follow me. When I strike twice on my 
snuff-box, which I shall hold constantly in my hand, 
you will be good enough to cease saying whatever may 
be your conversation at the moment. See, I shall give 
you this signal,” and Fouche lightly struck the enamelled 
snuff-box twice with his first two fingers. 

“ It is understood, M. Fouche; I will not lose sight of 
you nor of your snuff-box.” 

“ My snuff-box, particularly.” 

This arrangement made the Duchess followed in the 
train of the Empress to the adjoining banquet-hall. 


LI. 

CATHARINE’S REVENGE. 

The sneering smiles and the caustic comments followed 
the marchioness to the supper-room. The Queen of 
Naples- and her sister Elisa had gathered about them 
their cantankerous female friends, all resolved to make 
it as unpleasant as possible for the duchess. Caroline 
showed beneath her fan a note written by the marchioness 
to the court costumer, Leroy, which she had purchased 
at a high figure, and which read as follows: 

“ Will you, M. Leroy, not fail to send me to-morrow 
my catin^ dress.” 

Elisa had given directions to the usher that when 
Catharine came accompanied by Marchioness Lannes, 
as had been announced, he was to give her the title of 
marchioness instead of the rightful duchess.* Elisa had 
possessed herself of a story telling of a curious and 
interesting incident happening in Catharine’s household 
a short time before and in connection with the theft of 
a valuable diamond belonging to the marchioness. The 
details were certainly unfit for repetition, but Elisa, feel- 
ing it would embarrass Catharine still more, approached 
the Empress and laughingly repeated the incident. Cath- 
arine angered beyond control, burst forth with some 
characteristic remark when her eye chanced to meet that 
of Fouche who was tapping vigorously upon his snuff 
box. 

“ The devil ! he wants me to stop. I would have given 

* Catharine intended to write satin; the word catin is equivalent to 
demi-monde. 


288 


this hussy a dose,” she ^aid, “ but I am glad Fouche ha^ 
interrupted me.” Then hesitating a moment slie step- 
ped to the centre of the circle of gossips and looking 
into the face of Caroline and Elisa alternately she said 
with an intensity of irony that was most cutting: 

‘‘Your Majesty, and you, Madame Princess, you do 
the honor of telling how a poor woman, such as myself, 
detected a thief, a professional thief, a thief who stole 
trifles, a servant, a scrub, who was neither a marshal 
nor a king nor the relation of an emperor. In truth, I 
had a strong disposition to let this diamond thief go 
when I considered the crowned thieves who are robbing 
the Empire and who are despoiling our country.” 

Catharine’s words produced the most astounding ef- 
fect in the brilliant following of the Queen of Naples. 
Fouche had stepped hastily forward and was frantically 
tapping upon his box. But Catharine cast no glance in 
his direction. She refused to stop ; she continued look- 
ing intently at the affrighted women : 

“ Yes, the Emperor is too good, too lenient. He does 
not know what becomes of the money ; he is satisfied 
with the income of a captain, but all those whom his 
favor has lifted from the most obscure ranks of society 
devote their energies to pillage, ravaging and robbing 
openly from the people. It is not the servants who 
steal jewelry in others’ apartments, in 'those of the mar- 
shals or those of the sovereigns, that the Emperor will 
have to strip to find evidences of their crimes.” 

Her voice trembled with anger; strong in the con- 
sciousness of Lefebvre’s integrity, the honor of a sol- 
dier, Catharine Sans-Gene scowled in the faces of these 
insolent females whose parvenu husbands were robbing 
the Empire and plotting treason against the Emperor. 

Caroline of Naples was audacious, and the feeling of 
a Queen increased her audacity : 

“ Madame Duchess, perhaps you would have us re- 
turn to the epoch of republican virtue ? Oh, those were 
beautiful times, truly ! ” 

“ Don’t you dare to insult the soldiers of the Repub- 
lic ! ” Catharine shouted, pale with anger ; “ they were 
all heroes, Lefebvre with them. They did not fight as 
your husbands, as your lovers, ladies, do now to acquire 
position and privileges and wealth, to despoil the prov- 
inces and rob the public treasury ! The soldiers of the 
Republic fought to liberate an oppressed people, to de- 
liver men from slavery, to glorify France and establish 


289 


its liberty. Those who came after them perhaps 
fought bravely, but the profits of the glory, more than 
the glory itself, fell to them. Our Emperor will regret 
the loss of the soldiers of the Republic. When he looks 
about him for the friends to be with him in danger, the 
men to support him in trouble, he will not find him in the 
husband of the Queen who cannot uphold her throne.” 

Elisa, angered and indignant, said to Caroline: 

“ Let us go, sister; we cannot reply in suitable lan- 
guage to a washerwoman who the weakness of our 
brother has made a duchess ! ” 

The two Princesses left the salon after a brief salute 
to the Empress, who was at a loss to understand the 
evident anger of her disagreeable sisters-in-law. Fouche 
shook his head and said seriously to Catherine: 

“You have said some pretty lively things. Duchess; I 
have been giving you signals, rapping on my snuff-box, 
but you wouldn’t pay any attention, nothing could stop 
you.” 

“ Reassure yourself, M. Fouche, I shall tell it all to the 
Emperor, and when he knows what took place he will 
endorse what I have said.” 

Catharine was alive to the sentiments of Napoleon in 
regard to his family and while she realized the devotion 
that always marked his feelings toward them, she knew 
that before and beyond even such regard there would 
always prevail his' love for the army. It was the army 
that Napoleon’s sisters frequently slurred and Catharine 
in telling M. Fouche she should repeat this incident to 
the Emperor, relied upon playing the insult to the army 
as her trump card in the complaint. 


LII. 

THE RUSSIAN ALLIANCE. 

On the 22d of June, 1807, France was victorious over 
the whole of Europe. 

Lefebvre had taken Danzig. On the 14th of June 
Napoleon had defeated the Russian army at Friedland, 
and Soult had been successful at Koenigsberg. The 14th 
of June was a glorious anniversary and Napoleon, ever 
superstitious, entered the battle with confidence, for it 
was the date of Marengo. 

The Russian army, commanded by General Benning- 


290 - 


sen, advanced on the city of Friedland. The river Alle 
wound around the city and was crossed by a multitude 
of bridges. Marshal Lannes, v^ith ten thousand men, 
embracing the Grenadiers and volunteers of Oudinot, 
with the dragoons and hussars under the orders of 
Grouchy, held the road against the Russian advance. 

At three o’clock in the morning the first shot was 
fired. 

The action at once became decisive. It was a bold 
effort and w'as made with all the forces the Emperor of 
Russia had at his command. Alexander had given his 
assurance to Frederick William he would fight a decisive 
battle for the salvation of Prussia. 

Lannes, with a greatly inferior force, was in peril 
when Mortier came to his relief with Dupas’s division. 
Marshal Mortier had his horse shot under him by a 
cannon ball, his own unhappy death was not to be met 
on the field of battle but at the hand of a murderer a 
few years later on the Boulevard du Temple, during a 
review of the National Guard when an explosive was 
thrown by Fiechi and directed against Louis Philippe. 

The stand made by Lannes gave an opportunity for 
Napoleon to come to his aid. The Emperor galloped 
up radiant, confident, far in advance of his staff eager, 
impatient to take part in the action and to command in 
person at the victory. Oudinot, covered with blood, 
his uniform torn and soiled, cried after Napoleon. 

“ Let me have my Grenadiers, sire' give me reinforce- 
ments and I will drive the Russians into the river.” 

Napoleon made a sign with his hand and checking his 
horse swept his glass over the field. The day was well 
advanced, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, who were called to- 
gether, counselled a suspension of the battle until the 
next day; they wished time to reorganize the army. 

‘‘ No,” declared the Emperor, “ we shall continue what 
we have begun so well. Twice the enemy have made 
mistakes.” 

With a perception and a promptness that were mar- 
vellous the Emperor decided to occupy the city of Fried- 
land, that formed the head of the curve in the Alle river. 
To make this audacious dash Napoleon required a 
leader who would fearlessly assail the strongly defended 
bridges leading into tlie city. He looked about him 
for an instant and grasping the arm of Ney he said 
quickly pointing towards Friedland: 

“ There is where I want you to go, march directly 


2gt 


ahead; pay no attention to what happens behind you or 
on either side of you. Force your way through that 
mass of men and cannon, clear the bridge, get into 
Friedland somehow, anyhow. Don’t have any thought 
of what is taking place in any direction except in front 
of you. I shall be behind you and on each side of you, 
I and the army. Go, Marshal, and give to Marengo an 
immortal anniversary.” 

Ney dashed off with wild enthusiasm and as Napoleon 
watched him plunge down the road, he turned to Mortier 
and said: “ Ney is not a man, he is a lion ! ” 

These were the heroes destined to perish under the 
bullets of the restoration, marching towards the bridges 
defended by a great force of sturdy Russians. The 
Emperor summoned his generals and with phenomenal 
coolness changed their instructions and reconstructed 
his plan of battle. Ney was at the right, Victor was 
stationed between Ney and Lannes, Mortier a trifle in 
the rear with the divisions of brave Poles commanded 
by Dombrowski and the dragoons of Latour-Maubourg. 
The French army thus was drawn into an imposing 
mass of 24,000 men. 

The firing had almost ceased, the Russians thinking 
the battle was terminated, at least for that day. In a 
silence that to the keen observer always presages the 
coming of a storm, the army took its new position of 
battle. A signal was to be given from twenty pieces of 
artillery that were massed in a -battery at the point 
where Napoleon stood directing the movements, cool, 
prudent, realizing that the fortunes and glory of France 
depended upon the next few hours. 

Resisting the impatient appeals of his generals and 
the soldiers who were ready to throw themselves on the 
enemy, the Emperor calmly awaited the complete dis- 
position of the forces before giving the word. 

Then the signal boomed forth from the deadly mouth 
of a score of cannon. 

Ney rushed his men forward into a descent that was 
overwhelming. The Russian artillery poured shot into 
the approaching ranks and every moment was marked by 
awful ravages, for the files of men were so deployed that 
they received the full effect of the fire in th^ir face and 
at their side. The infantry in Bisson’s division hesitated, 
stopped. Napoleon hastening to their support ordered 
General Senarmont to change the position of his bat- 
tery so he might command the Russian artillery. 


292 


Indifferent to the rain of balls the general placed his 
cannon as Napoleon directed, the enemy meanwhile 
making his men the target of their artillery and musket 
fire from across the river and the plain. 

The Russians appalled by the ceaseless cannonade 
sought every avenue to escape the terrible advance of 
Napoleon. The Imperial Guard emerging from the 
ravine climbed over the earth walls, bayonetted the 
canonniers, drove the valiant Russians before them like 
chaff. 

It was a grand butchery, a glorious, horrible fete of 
the White Army, a hand-to-hand conflict of the an- 
cients. The Russians fled before the victorious host, the 
bridges were in flames and Marshal Ney met General 
Dupont in the centre of blazing Friedland. 

Then Napoleon as a great mechanician who plans and 
manoeuvres a masterful machine that works to his satis- 
faction, ordered an advance of the entire army. 

The scene was grand, formidable; with a mighty shout 
the French rushed over the ground as the last ranks of 
the Russians disappeared in the obscurity of the evening. 

It was ten o’clock at night when Napoleon, victorious, 
dismounted from his horse and ate a piece of bread that 
had been offered him by a soldier. It was the first 
mouthful he had tasted during the day. 

A bivouac fire in the ranks of Lannes’s men sent its 
sparks and glare high into the heavens and threw forth 
such an inviting warmth that Napoleon approached it to 
dry his boots, soaked with the waters of the turbulent river. 
His pale face lighted with the reflection from the crack- 
ling logs, was no sooner recognized than a great cheer 
went up, that was caught by succeeding groups until it 
surged over that wide plain and through the bloody 
streets of the fallen city. 

“ Long live the Emperor of the West ! ” 

Napoleon made no movement of response to this 
spontaneous ovation, but his quick ear caught the sound 
of the new title given him by his proud followers. It 
fired a train of thought in his keen mind and he mur- 
mured: “Emperor of the West ! It is a good name, a 
great role ! Ah, if the Emperor Alexander would join 
with me !. We two could rule the world.” 

It was the beginning of that which has been called 
the Napoleonic insanity, the Russian Alliance was the 
first symptom of mental disorder in this grand man, the 
first step towards destruction. 


293 * 


On the 19th of June Napoleon reached the banks of 
the Niemen, the stream separating Eastern Prussia from 
the Russian Empire. 

The Grand Army leaving its camp at Boulogne in 
September, 1805, had traversed Europe in a triumphal 
progress. 

Austria crushed at Austerlitz; Prussia vanquished at 
Jena; Russia beaten and demoralized atFriedland; what 
remained for him to do? 

Peace ! 

Yes, but with civilized Europe, with England, with 
Austria, with Prussia — not with the barbarians of Rus- 
sia ! Unhappily the Emperor accepted seriously the un- 
reliable friendship of the Czar Alexander. They talked 
with him — Talleyrand, Fouche, the two traitors who ad- 
vised him— of marriage with the Grand Duchess Anne, 
sister of the Emperor of Russia. 

These traitors flattered the secret desire held by the 
Emperor for an alliance with one of the reigning families, 
and having an heir whose grandfather sat upon a throne, 
not by force of arms but by divine right and the fiction 
of inheritance 

The Grand Duchess Anne was not yet fifteen years of 
age. She was short, plump and exceedingly pretty. A 
resemblance was found between her and the Empress 
Catharine because of her aquiline nose, her face being 
free from the blunt and Tartar features of the Russian 
rulers. The Princess had been educated with great care 
by Madame de Lieven, and she gave every promise of 
being an accomplished sovereign. 

But the physical and moral qualities counted for little; 
it was the alliance with Emperor Alexander that at- 
tracted Napoleon, for he had already resolved to break his 
marriage with Josephine and fortune appeared in every 
way to favor the consummation of this plan, as the next 
day following the victory Prince Bagration as envoy of 
the Czar came with proposals for peace, and to ask an 
interview in the name of his Imperial Russian master. 

The interview was fixed for June 25th at Tilsit, and 
the hour to be one o’clock, midday. 

Napoleon addressed to his army this proclamation 
which even at nearly one hundred years still inflames 
every French heart: 

“ Soldiers: 

“On the 5th of June we were attacked by the Russian 
army. The enemy was misled as to the reasons for pur 


294 


inactivity. It was learned too late our repose was that 
of the lion and they repented when they troubled it. 

“ From the banks of the Vistula we have come to the 
borders of the Niemen with the rapidity of an eagle. 
You celebrated at Austerlitz the anniversary of my 
accession ; you have this year celebrated that of the 
battle of Marengo, which put an end to the war of the 
second coalition. 

“ Frenchmen ! You have exalted yourselves and me ! 
You return to France covered with laurels and after 
having secured a glorious peace that carries with it the 
guarantee of being permanent. The time has come for 
our country to live free from the malign influence of 
England. 

“ My actions will prove my gratitude and give you all 
to understand the love I feel for you.” 

This proclamation was dated at the Imperial Camp at 
Tilsit, June 22, 1807. Three days later occurred the 
memorable interview between the two Emperors. 

An enormous raft, designed by General Lariboisiere, 
was floated upon the waters of the Niemen. Upon it a 
glass pavilion was constructed, and decorated with 
tapestries and hangings found in rich profusion among 
the treasures of the city of Tilsit. 

Napoleon and Alexander embarked at the same mo- 
ment, and promptly at one o’clock in the afternoon they 
stepped upon the temporary island that was to become 
famous from that time. Murat, Berthiere, Bessieres, 
Duroc and the Master of the Horse, Caulaincourt, ac- 
companied Napoleon. 

The Czar was escorted by the Grand Duke Constan- 
tin, Generals Benningsen and Ouvaroff, Prince Labanoff 
and Count Lieven. 

When they met the two Emperors embraced in sight 
of their respective armies drawn up on the opposite 
shores of the river, and were saluted with a storm of 
hurrahs and cries at this solemn and amicable demon- 
stration. 

The scene was strange and impressive. A vast and 
unbroken plain extended to the limit of sight. The 
narrow Niemen rolled its muddy waters through the 
marshy earth, beyond the little city of Tilsit to the 
marshes of Lithuania, protected by a wall of mountains 
where the Teutons had erected a formidable fort. 

On the right side of the river dwelt the hairy, fero- 
gious, half-civilized Cossacks, riding horses as savage as 


295 


themselves and bearing long, murderous lances; the 
Basques armed with the ancient bow and arrow, Oriental 
tribes recalling memories of early Asiatic invasions. 
Among these Eastern barbarians arose the Russian 
Guard, dignified, imposing, superb, with their tall 
stature, clothed in a costume of green and red. 

On the left bank were gathered the crowds of heroes, 
with their high feathers, their cloaks and tall hats. 

The population of the country swarmed among the 
soldiers and united their cries with those of the two 
armies. The Emperors had embraced and were recon- 
ciled; they promised to live thereafter in peace, and vil- 
lages would no more be converted into slaughter-houses 
or bonfires. 

Joy was wide-spread; every one saw a return home, to 
family, to wife; in their simplicity the brave warriors 
accepted as an expression of sincerity the spectacular 
reconciliation of the Emperors. Events following not 
long after this showed that politics has no heart 
and two sovereigns can greet each other cordially and 
yet be fighting to thd death meanwhile. 

Alexander was still young; he was a Slav, he was 
nervous and easily influenced, susceptible to fugi- 
tive impressions, to capricious thoughts, to uncertain 
decisions. He was twenty-eight years of age and, 
although he was vanquished, he felt a certain vanity in 
having measured his prowess v/ith the conqueror of 
Europe who at Eylau and Friedland had defeated him 
with difficulty. 

The two sovereigns, after their embrace, entered the 
glass pavilion to confer. 

A third sovereign stood on the banks of the river, 
melancholy, disheartened, inspiring disdain, perhaps 
pity. It was the King of Prussia. 

Frederick William had not been invited to accompany 
the two Emperors; he had begged Alexander to plead 
his cause and he anxiously awaited the result of the 
interview. 

Napoleon employed his most charming manners in 
the meeting with Alexander; he was cordial, fluent and 
persuasive and he threw into his expressions that irre- 
sistible seductiveness of which he had unlimited control. 

“Why do we make war on each other?” he said, “it 
is the English alone we should fight ! ” 

“ If you wish to invade England we are in the live- 
liest accord,” responded the Czar. “ I detest the English, 


296 

they have deserted me, abandoned me in the moment 
of my peril.” 

“ If you have those sentiments then peace is assured,” 
said Napoleon quickly, extending his hand. 

Napoleon was intent on winning the friendship of 
Alexander; he still dwelt on the idea of a Russian 
alliance; he saw England erased from the map and his 
own political rule suprerpe by the confederation of two 
great empires. Napoleon ceded all details that Alexander 
asked. He was conqueror and yet he received conditions 
from the conquered. He made foolish sacrifices in that 
brief interview of interests clearly due to France, but 
he was influenced by the double chimera of having the 
Cossacks and Basques as allies and wedding the imperial 
princess. . 

Of all the faults committed by Napoleon in the latter 
years of his reign, one only was criminal: at Tilsit he 
might, as absolute master of the situation, have recon- 
structed the kingdom of Poland and have protected 
the west by its natural safeguard against the menaces 
of Panslavism. The omission to do this brought upon 
France Waterloo, Sedan and two invasions. 

To please his new friend, Napoleon sacrificed Turkey, 
the old and constant ally of France. He had promised 
the Ottoman Porte he would never make any treaty 
that would allow Russia to enjoy an outlet on the 
Mediterranean to the ultimate disadvantage of Constan- 
tinople, he agreed to preserve the integrity of the Otto- 
man Empire. He permitted Alexander to put his hands 
on Malgravia and Valachia; the appetite of the Russian 
ogre was insatiable;- we know something of it to-day. 
Napoleon sacrificed Persia to the Muscovite maw; he 
abandoned Poland despite the tears and charms of the 
beautiful Countess Walewski. 

And in exchange for all these gifts, all these subjects, 
all this territory, -what was offered by the delighted 
Alexander ? 

Promises, sighs, amiable words. 

Alexander promised, Naj)oleon presented. 

The Czar declared he did not like England; he offered 
to recognize the Napoleonic dynasty and the new kings, 
the brothers Bonaparte had seated upon chance thrones. 

A revolution occurring shortly after assuring the de- 
position of the Sultan, Napoleon proposed to Alexander 
that they appropriate the Turkish Empire. The Mus- 
covite potentate was strongly favorable to the offer— to 


297 


himself the East, to Napoleon the West. They would par- 
tition the globe as two heritages, as an estate that had 
been long in litigation. It was at this suggestion Alex- 
ander exclaimed in genuine enthusiasm for Napoleon: 

“ What a great man! What a genius! What broad 
views! What profound thought! Ah, that I had known 
you sooner what faults I would have avoided, what 
great things we would have accomplished together.” 

Alexander profited by the influence he was gradually 
acquiring over Napoleon, to plead the cause of the King 
of Prussia, every other influence had been brought to 
bear without result. The King wished the old elector- 
ates of Brandenburg and Saxony to be restored. The 
Queen of Prussia had urged this concession. Her 
beauty, her grace, her spirit had been relied on to 
touch Napoleon. The Queen was at that time thirty- 
two years of age and was regarded as one of the most 
beautiful women in Europe. 

She made every effort to seduce Napoleon, but he 
was defiant; he closed his eyes and would permit no 
sentiment to enter his heart. The Queen was not skill- 
ful; she disliked the Emperor, yet she feigned a passion 
for him; she played her part as an actress of mediocre 
ability imparting unconsciously to her voice the in- 
tensity of her feeling. To this sovereign who pleaded 
for her kingdom Napoleon opposed a frigid, icy manner. 

Upon one occasion at dinner the Emperor politely 
presented the Queen with a beautiful rose and she in 
accepting it murmured: 

“ Ah, sire, with Magdeburg.” 

She looked into the Emperor’s face, her eyes moist, 
her sigh sweet, a little as the coquettish courtezan 
tempts her rich lover: “ Ah, sire, if you will be gener- 
ous, be good, as they say you are, as they all love you.” 

Napoleon dryly interrupted the sovereign and said : 

“ Your Majesty is familiar with my intentions; I have 
communicated them to the Emperor of Russia and 
charged him with making them known to King William, 
for the Czar acts as mediator between us. These inten- 
tions are unalterable.” 

He politely saluted and withdrew. 

The peace of Tilsit was signed on July 6, 1807. The 
following day the sovereigns exchanged their ratifica- 
tions. Napoleon wore the Grand Cordon of Saint An- 
drew, Alexander the Grand Cordon of the Legion of 
Honor. The Russian Imperial Guard and the Old 


Guard were drawn up facing each other. Napoleon 
pinned the Cross of the Legion of Honor upon the 
breast of a Russian Guard amid the wild applause of 
the armies. 

The memorable interview was at an end, France glo- 
rious and triumphant. Napoleon dominated Europe. 


LIII. 

THE AUSTRIAN ALLIANCE. 

Three years passed before Napoleon took any fur- 
ther steps in his project for divorce, or sought to realize 
his dreams of a Russian alliance strengthened by a 
marriage with the Grand Duchess Anne. 

The war in Spain, the campaign in Austria had served 
to occupy his time during this period. But despite his 
inaction the desire for an heir and the wish to build up 
a dynasty on a marriage with the daughter or sister of 
a reigning sovereign grew stronger and stronger in Na- 
poleon’s heart. At Erfurt he had opened the negotia- 
tions for such a culmination by suggesting to the Em- 
peror Alexander the possibility of cementing their al- 
liance by becoming brothers-in-law. 

The Czar had agreed without agreeing to the project. 
He advanced but one objection, the Empress-mother. 
Conferences continued with Russia for the purpose of 
obtaining the consent of the Empress-mother. M. de 
Caulaincourt, envoy to the Czar for this special nego- 
tiation, counselled delay. The Court of Russia, desirous 
of putting the affair off as long as possible, made all 
manner of excuses. They dwelt upon the ill health of 
the Grand Duchess, they insisted upon the establish- 
ment of a Greek chapel with orthodox priests at the 
Tuileries. 

All those subterfuges irritated Napoleon; his nervous 
temperament chaffed at the delay. He saw under these 
excuses a defiance of his wishes, a repugnance to give 
him for a wife a daughter of the Czars. The question 
of a Greek chapel was nonsense; he was wounded at the 
condition- imposed upon him to never re-establish the 
kingdom of Poland. 

He resolved to renounce the Russian Alliance. 

But he had not yet separated from Josephine. He 
loved her devotedly, he always loved her, and it was not 


without genuiue grief that he nerved himself to tear his 
affections asunder and take up new ties. Josephine had 
ever exercised great influence over Napoleon; to him, 
notwithstanding her age and indiscretions, she was al- 
ways the most beautiful and seductive of wom.en. 

On his return from Schoenbrunn, where he had en- 
joyed the companionship of the charming Comtesse 
Walewski, who was enceinte, he resolved finally to 
hasten the divorce. He had received the proof in two 
instances, from Eleonore de la Plaigne and from the 
beautiful Pole, that nature permitted him to have an 
heir. He proposed then to make known his decision 
to Josephine with as little delay as possible, and after 
that it could be determined whether he should wed the 
daughter of the King of Saxony or the daughter of the 
Emperor of Austria. The alliance with the sister of 
Alexander had already been renounced. 

Soon after his return the Emperor summoned the 
Arch-chancellor Cambaceres to confer with him at 
Fontainebleau. 

“What is this I hear said the Emperor, “Paris has 
expressed some doubts lately! Been. stirred by false 
news ! Has it lost confidence in me ? ” 

“ No, sire, 3^011 are always loved, followed, admired. 
But we feared because there have been some alarming 
rumors during the past few months ; it has been said an 
attempt was made to assassinate you while at Schoen- 
brunn.” 

“ They were wrong to be disturbed by such a report ; 
it had merely a foundation of truth. There was a great 
crowd at Schoenbrunn ; the people admired our victor- 
ious troops. A young man dressed in a long coat — I 
had noticed the fellow because he had made several at- 
tempts to get near my carriage — did certainly intend to 
strike me. He held a paper in his hand — a petition, 
probably. Rapp saw him and was impressed by some- 
thing in his actions, and seized him. They found on 
■■ the man a long, naked knife.” 

“ Intended for you, sire ? ” 

“ Yes, so the rascal said. I talked with him myself 
and I had him examined by Corvisart. The man’s 
■ name is Staaps, and he was the son of a Protestant min- 
? ister at Erfurt. The miserable fool appeared perfectly 
calm and declared he acted entirely on his own respon- 
sibility, — had no accomplices whatever. I don’t believe 
I it; however ; I think he belongs to that sect of Fhila- 


300 


delphes whose members have sworn to kill me, or see me 
killed. Bah ! those are the professional perils of being 
a ruler. They could not ha've had much of interest in 
Paris to be engrossed by such a report.” 

“ Your life is so precious, sire ! ” 

“ Yes,” replied Napoleon, after a moment’s thought, 
“ it is necessary I should live. If I am struck by the 
bullet of a lunatic, or the dagger of a fool, what will be- 
come of my work, of my France? All will die with me. 
I am building on the sand, Cambaceres, and it is time 
if we are wise that we gave the Empire a more substan- 
tial foundation.” 

The Arch-chancellor evidently was not pleased. 

“ Your Majesty wishes an heir. I do not pretend that 
you should not realize this desire, only, if you will 
permit me to observe that, without speaking of the bad 
impression it will make on the people, if you repudiate 
the Empress, all the clergy will oppose it.” 

“ I will see the clergy is obedient, I possess the respect 
of the Pope,” Napoleon replied, haughtily. 

In all events, sire, be careful of the religious element 
in the selection. If you wed a Catholic princess it will 
be necessary to set aside the clandestine religious mar- 
riage you have celebrated.” 

“ That marriage is void, its formalities were never ful- 
filled,” Napoleon answered, petulently. 

“ You were blessed by the Pope, Pius VII., and he 
would not otherwise have consented to the crowning of 
Josephine.” 

“Yes, that is true. Fesch married us secretly in an 
apartment of the Tuileries, but it was simply a com-^ 
plaisant affair done to allay the scruples of the Pope.” 

“ It was officially attended.” 

“ The ecclesiastical judges and the Counsel of State 
will determine that. Cambaceres, I want you to go and 
prepare the Empress for a serious interview with me on 
this subject.” 

Cambaceres bowed and, in taking leave of the Em- 
peror, murmured: 

“ He will quarrel with Russia, and we shall have the 
Austrian Alliance; that means all of Europe will be 
under arms within three years. Poor Emperor! My 
poor France ! ” 



JOSEPHINE, 


WITH THE CKY OF 

TO 


A BUOKKN 
THE FLOOK 


HEAKT, 


SANK 


rN0ONS( ior;s 


i 

i 


301 


LIV. 

THE DIVORCE. 

For many months Josephine had dreaded the blow 
that. finally fell with such crushing force. She had sur- 
rendered to Cardinal Fesch the certificate of her religious 
marriage, relying upon the true affection, the faithful- 
ness of Napoleon, to maintain her rank as his wife. 

But since the episode of the beautiful Pole and the 
intimacy of Schoenbrunn, was she sure of holding the 
heart of the Emperor ? 

Summoned by the Arch-chancellor, Josephine re- 
sponded, trembling, her langorous eyes bathed in tears. 

The scene was brief and painful. 

It was after dinner, on November 30, 1809. The 
coffee served, Napoleon took the cup that was held by 
a page and made a sign that he should leave the room. 

Husband and wife for'the last time were tete-a-tete. 

Napoleon announced his resolution in few words. He 
made no attempt at delicacy in the explanation, he said 
the interests of the country demanded that he should 
have an heir and consequently he was forced to annul 
this marriage and contract another. 

As Josephine sobbed some beseeching words, recalled 
how she had loved Bonaparte, as she sought to revive 
his tenderness by reverting to their happy moments and 
their delicious hours, Napoleon interrupted her passion- 
ately and imperatively striving to restrain the emotion 
that agitated his own breast and defended his resolve 
by the pitiless exclamation: 

“ Do not try to change my determination, nothing 
can do that. I shall always love you Josephine, but 
politics demands that I shall separate from you. Politics 
has no heart, it has only a head.” 

Josephine with the cry of a broken heart sank uncon- 
scious to the floor ; she heard but the first words of the 
unhappy speech. 

Napoleon summoned the chamberlain M. de Bausset: 

‘‘ Come in and close the door,” he said. 

Josephine was stretched upon the floor sobbing, cry- 
ing, moaning: 

“ I cannot bear it, I cannot bear it ! It will kill 
me ! ” 

‘‘ Can you lift the Empress and carry her to her pri- 


vate apartments by the inside staircase; there they can 
give her the care she requires ? But stop a moment, I 
will help you ! ” said Napoleon. 

And between them, the Emperor and the chamber- 
lain, the still unconscious Josephine was raised and sup- 
ported on the shoulder of M. de Bausset. Napoleon, with 
a light in his hand, went ahead from the room as though 
showing the path to this qqasi-funeral. He opened the 
door to the corridor, and said: 

“ Go down these stairs.” 

“Sire, these stairs are too steep, I shall fall.” 

The Emperor putting aside the light, clasped his arms 
around Josephine’s limbs, while the chamberlain sup- 
ported her head, and together they carefully picked the 
way down the uncertain and winding steps with the 
inert and deathlike body of the stricken Empress. But 
as they descended step by step the chamberlain was 
surprised to see Josephine open her eyes, and say in her 
sweet voice: 

“Don’t squeeze me so tight ! ” 

And then she relapsed into unconsciousness. This for- 
tunate sign assured him of the continued health of the 
repudiated wife. 

Napoleon was affected as deeply as was his wife; he 
sacrificed his happiness, his love, to the demands of poli- 
tics, and he was cruelly punished for it. It was a ter- 
rible and prophetic vision of his destiny this sinister de- 
scent of the staircase with the wife who had been the 
companion of his glory, the good fairy that presided 
over his life. 

The decree was signed on December 15th, in the pres- 
ence of a solemn assembly at the Tuileries, brought to- 
gether at nine o’clock in the evening. 

In the Emperor’s grand cabinet there were present: 
Madame Mere (the Emperor’s mother), the Queens of 
Spain, Naples, Holland, Westphalia, Princess Pauline — 
all of Napoleon’s sisters — triumphant and making no at- 
tempt to conceal their joy from Hortense, the sad 
Queen of Holland; the Kings of Holland, of Westphalia, 
Naples, and Ehigene, Viceroy of Italy. Cambaceres, 
assisted by Murat and by Renauld de Saint-Jean- 
d’Angely, occupied seats before the table, upon which 
were laid the documents pertaining to the divorce. 

Then Napoleon taking Josephine’s hand and his eyes 
filled with tears he did not repress, genuine tears from 
his heart, repeated the remarks prepared for him by 


Cambacieres announcing the resolution taken by him 
and his dear wife. He gave as his sole reason for the 
separation the hopelessness of expecting children from 
his union with Josephine. 

“ Arrived at the age of forty years I can entertain the 
hope of still living long enough to educate in my spirit 
and in my thoughts the children Providence may be 
pleased to give me. God knows how this resolution has 
torn my heart, but there is no sacrifice that would 
be too great for my courage, if I felt it were best for 
France. 

“ I wish to say that far from there having ever been 
any questions arise between us, I have the fondest and 
tenderest attachment for my beloved wife. She has 
made happy fifteen years of my life, and the memory of 
them will always remain graven on my heart. Having 
been crowned by my hand, I desire she shall retain the 
rank and title of Empress, but above all, I wish no 
doubt to exist as to my sentiments and that I shall 
always look upon her aS my best and dearest friend.” 

Josephine on her part endeavored to make fitting 
response to this declaration, but her voice was choked 
with grief and her eyes were blinded with tears. She 
handed the paper from which she began to read, to 
Regnauld de Saint-Jean-d’Angely who repeated the 
words in her stead. ^ 

She declared she accepted the divorce with resig- 
nation and in the hopes that it would be the means 
of presenting the nation with an heir. “But,” said the 
declaration, “ the dissolution of my marriage will in no 
manner change the sentiments of my heart; the Emperor 
will always find in me his best friend. I am well aware 
that this act, made necessary by political demands and 
by great state interests, has touched his heart but we 
all find glory in the sacrifices that we make for the good 
of our country.” 

To the phrases and text of Cambaceres and Maret, 
Josephine had added but a single line, touching in its 
simplicity: 

“I am glad to give to the Emperor the greatest 
proof of attachment and of devotion that has ever been 
given on this earth.” 

The next day, December i6th, the Senate con- 
firmed the divorce. The decree was couched in sober 
and precise terms. The first article provided that the 
marriage between the Emperor Napoleon and Empress 


Josephine was dissolved. The second article provided 
that Empress Josephine should always bear the title 
and be considered an Empress. The third article fixed 
the amount of her annuity, an annual sum of two mill- 
ions of francs paid from ^he public treasury should be 
allowed her. The successors of the Emperor were 
bound to fulfill the provisions of the divorce. In addi- 
tion to this^the revenue from Navarre was assigned to 
Josephine during her life. 

It was claimed later that legal reasons existed against 
the divorce and in favor of the civil marriage celebrated 
on March 9, 1796 in the presence of the municipal offi- 
cer of the Second Arrondisement of Paris. If Josephine 
gave the correct date of her birth she was forty-six 
years of age in 1809 and divorce was not permitted to 
any persons aged more than forty-five. Article 7 of 
the Imperial statutes provides that “ divorce is inter- 
dicted to all members of the Imperial family of both 
sexes and all ages.” 

But these provisions, these restrictions, these judicial 
decisions and legal objections could not withstand the 
imperious will of the all-powerful Emperor. Napoleon 
had wished the divorce and Josephine obeyed him; there 
had been abnegation and sacrifice on the part of the Em- 
press in consenting to this sad condition, while on the 
part of the Emperor there had also been a certain de- 
gree of heartache because of the love he bore Josephine, 
an affection less sensual, less passionate doubtless than 
his earlier years, but an affection that was real, serious, 
profound. The tears he shed at the rupture of their 
love were genuine, and those that filled the eyes of 
Josephine were no less burning. 

The i6th of December, the day the Senate declared 
the union dissolved, was Saturday. At four o’clock on 
the afternoon a carriage took Josephine from the Tuil- 
eries to Malmaison. The weather was most disagree- 
able, the heavens were hung in black for the event as 
they should be for a funeral. The route from Rueil, 
lonesome, melancholy, sad, increased the unhappiness of 
the ex-Empress. 

Her son Eugene who had acted as one of the private 
counsel consulted by Napoleon, accompanied her. The 
Emperor had left the Tuileries and was then residing at 
the Trianon. Two days later he visited Malmaison. 

I find you more depressed than I had thought,” 
said Napoleon to Josephine with kindness; “you have 


kept up your courage, attend to your health which is so 
precious to me. Let me see you calm and happy." 

He embraced her tenderly and returned to the Tria- 
non. On Christmas Napoleon gave a dinner at the 
Trianon and Josephine was there for the last time. 

What can be said of the parting of these two lovers, 
separated by a public act ? 

Doubtless Josephine cried and Napoleon was hardly 
less uncomfortable; fatality interposing between them, 
they were the playthings of politics, the slaves of fortune. 
Notwithstanding the faults of Josephine, despite the 
infidelities of Napoleon, the imperial household was 
always a happy one. The Emperor never expressed 
any regrets concerning his fatal step, but in his declin- 
ing days at Saint Helena when illness racked his frame 
with pain and he felt the daily humiliation of being in 
the claws of the British cat that played cruelly with its 
victim, the vision of the happy years passed with Joseph- 
ine no doubt occupied, his thoughts and this last 
dinner in the Trianon was like a ghost to his remorse. 
But he was possessed of a mysterious and an irresist- 
ible power, as a man stumbling over a precipice, pitch- 
ing head foremost, with no control over himself, until 
he reached the bottom. 

When Josephine entered Malmaison, the Court made 
preparations for the second marriage of Napoleon. 

Talleyrand and Fouch6, inseparable traitors, were 
joined by that diplomatic perfidy, M. de Metternich, 
of whom Cambaceres said, “ He is very near a states- 
man, he is such a beautiful liar," and they hastened to 
provide a young Empress for the Tuileries. 

M. de Metternich made known to the Emperor, 
through Duke de Bassano as intermediary, that if he 
addressed the Austrian Court, he would not meet with 
refusal nor would the conferences for the final arrange- 
ments be delayed as they were by Russia. Austria, in 
fact, had no reason for delaying the event if it were de- 
cided upon. 

In the early days of February, i8io, Napoleon broke 
off his relations with Russia and sent an autograph let- 
ter to Francis II. It was an official demand, and Ber- 
thier. Prince of Neufchatel, was charged with asking the 
hand of Marie Louise from the Court of Vienna. 

Napoleon was changed now; he was certain of be- 
longing to the rank of kings, of undisputed kings. He 
gave more attention to his personal appearance, he 


3o5 


Studied himself anxiously. He had liis throat examined, 
his chest sounded, and he spent much time before the 
mirror assuring himself that his teeth were in proper 
condition. 

At this epoch Napoleon was changing in his physiog- 
nomy and his bearing. He was five -feet three inches, 
and appeared still shorter surrounded by the giants of 
his army, Berthier, Lefebvre, Ney, Mortier, Duroc, and 
others. 

His complexion, which was always olive, had now 
taken the tone of old ivory; his previous slender figure 
had given place to a very perceptible stoutness. The 
medals showing the General of the Army in Italy, with 
hair flowing and long, was not the likeness of him who 
now appeared like an Italian prelate of the Renais- 
sance. 

Now his hair was thin, his forehead, naturally high, was 
higher and his temples indicated approaching baldness. 
His glance was as piercing and penetrating as ever, and 
his eyes had the acquired power of possessing a singular 
brilliancy that seemed to make them translucent. When 
he fixed his eye on a human being it made an impres- 
sion that was never forgotten. All memoirs, all libellers 
of the Restoration confirm this extraordinary power of 
Napoleon’s eye. He could charm or destroy with it, 
and modern science, better than history, has analyzed 
the incomparable power he could exert by a glance of 
his eye. 

Napoleon’s physique was not noticeable or abnormal. 
His head was twenty-two inches in circumference; he 
wore always by preference the famous little hat that is 
associated with his portraits and his statues; his feet 
were small; his hands were petit and beautifully shaped. 
His health was excellent, his constitution extraordinary, 
he could perform an exceptional amount of work with- 
out feeling fatigue, he never knew what it was to be 
indolent, he dismounted from his horse to plunge im- 
mediately into his accounts, his plans, his public duties. 
He entered into the smallest details, his disposition was 
to examine the minutiae of every situation, his thorough- 
ness is indicated in this note, preserved in the Govern- 
ment records, and made by Napoleon on the margin of 
a report rendered him by Comte Mollien, Minister of 
the Treasury: “Why have you mentioned only two of 
the four cannon at Ostend?” He had seen these can- 
non, he remembered them and in the midst of the 


pressing, urgent matter, concerning the army and the 
nation, he recalled those cannon and insisted upon 
knowing what had become of the entire number. 

It may be said that Napoleon was in the full strength 
of his years and at the summit of his power when, the 
divorce being pronounced, he prepared for the espousal 
with Marie Louise. 

The first modification made in his personal affairs in 
view of the approaching marriage was the arrange- 
ment of his wearing attire. He had been in the habit 
of wearing a foulard nightgown open in front and a 
nightcap that possessed so little of the majestic as to 
invariably excite the ridicule and laughter of Josephine, 
but he felt this peculiarity of dress would not be espe- 
cially pleasing to the young wife and so he decided to 
abandon it and sleep in his bare head. 

He likewise bathed every day ; he dictated his dis- 
patches while in the bath and when he left it he was 
massaged, brushed and rubbed with eau de cologne. 
He wore drawers of white linen, white silk stockings, 
breeches of white cashmere and the dress of colonel of 
chasseurs. 

With a further idea of pleasing Marie Louise he gave 
orders to the tailor who dressed Murat to prepare for 
him a number of costumes such as were worn by the 
King of Naples. The coat he had been accustomed to 
wear he wished to be used as a model for the new. In 
vain Leger, tailor to the King of Naples, suggested 
changes, alterations, elaborations, but Napoleon would 
not hear of the magnificence and sumptuousness affected 
by Murat, his brother-in-law, who was covered with 
gold lace and embroideries. 

But Napoleon’s boots were of the finest quality and 
were made by a ladies’ shoemaker as were also his low 
shoes. 

Napoleon summoned Despreaux and took lessons in 
the valse, he wished to open the ball on the day of the 
grand fete celebrating the marriage, with Marie Louise 
as his partner and the valse was the essential dance. 
He ordered new hangings for the palace, new pictures, 
changed the furniture, increased the bric-a-brac. There 
was nothing of the old court left to greet the new Em- 
press. 

Upon one occasion as Napoleon was feverishly walk- 
ing through the galleries of the palace he stopped be- 
fore the portraits of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette 


3o8 


that were placed in the salon of the future Empress, and 
smiling sarcastically he murmured: 

“ The king, my uncle ; my aunt, the queen.” 

Marie Louise was in fact the niece of Marie Antoinette. 

In one of these moments of exuberance and play- 
fulness Napoleon said to Lefebvre: “Come here, Duke, 
I want to talk to you.” 

And Lefebvre mumbled to himself : “ Humph ! he 
wants to pour into my ears the praises of this Austrian, 
she is perfection, an eighth wonder, never has any one 
seen such a beautiful princess. Why don’t he take 
Maret or Savary for his confidences, I am not interested 
in them ! ” 

Marshal Lefebvre regretted Josephine. It was with 
pain he had seen the Emperor seat an Austrian princess 
on the throne of France, and he was opposed to the 
divorce, he considered it desertion, the two had begun 
the conflict of life together; why should they run away 
in the middle of the battle ? 

Responding to the Emperor’s call, Lefebvre followed 
to the grand salon which had just been furnished anew, 
carpets of great value laid and upon the walls rich tap- 
estry decorated with golden bees. 

“ There, Marshal, isn’t that beautiful ? ” asked Napo- 
leon. 

“Yes, it is and it does you great credit,” answered 
Lefebvre. 

“ There is nothing too good, nothing too rich for her 
who will come here as Empress,” exclaimed the Em- 
peror. 

Lefebvre turned towards the walls and continued to 
examine and compliment the furniture, the curtains, the 
brocaded silks, the golden fauteuils and the superbly 
carved sofas. In one corner stood an elegant harp of 
gilded wood, with a procession of dancing cupids and 
wreaths of roses delicately painted upon it. 

“The Archduchess 'is a fine musician,” said Napo- 
leon, touching the wires of the instrument lightly with 
his finger. “ Come here and I will show you the Em- 
press’ trousseau,” and Napoleon led the way to the bou- 
doir prepared for Marie Louise. 

The Duke was much better suited to inspect . the uni- 
form of a grenadier or review an encampment than to 
appreciate the rich articles that were spread over the 
bed, the sofas, the chairs, and which were carefully 
enumerated by the delighted Emperor. He displayed 


309 


successively laces, chemises trimmed with Valenciennes, 
handkerchiefs, undervests, petticoats, night caps, and a 
multitude of other'articles furnished by the famous Ma- 
demoiselle Lolive and Madame Beuvry, whose accounts 
footed up nearly an hundred thousand francs. Another 
hundred thousand francs were expended for laces, point 
d’Angleterre, and one hundred and twenty-six thousand 
for dresses. There were all sorts of ornaments, trifles, 
ribbons, beads, with which Napoleon had filled ela- 
borate baskets. The jewelry was marvelous and as beau- 
tiful as ever queen wore. 

There was a miniature of the Emperor encircled in 
diamonds .and valued at six hundred thousand francs. 
A diamond collar costing nine hundred thousand francs, 
more beautiful than the famous queen’s necklace, two 
earrings worth four hundred thousand francs and a 
parure of emeralds, turquoises and diamonds. These 
were among the wedding presents given by the Emperor, 
in addition to which there was a headdress of diamonds 
given by th^ Crown Treasury and valued at three mil- 
lion three hundred thousand francs. There was also a 
paper providing for an allowance to the Empress of 
36,000 francs monthly, one thousand each day for spend- 
ing-money. Napoleon looked at all these things with 
evidences of the most complete satisfaction; he was 
delighted to show them to his old companion : 

“Don’t you think she should be happy, the Em- 
press ?” he asked. 

“ Yes, sire, the Archduchess certainly could not live 
more elegantly in her father’s palace. She has now the 
simplest jewels and all her dresses put together are not 
worth as much as one of these chemises. What a change 
for the Archduchess, all these diamonds, these laces, 
these ornaments and yet they count for little besides the 
glory of being the wife of the Emperor Napoleon.” 

“ Flatterer ! ” exclaimed the Emperor gaily. 

“ I only say what I think, sire; you know I am like my 
wife, a little sans-gene.” 

“ Ah, apropos of your wife, I have something to say 
to you, confidentially; dine with me; come to dinner 
now.” 

And they turned towards the dining-room. Lefebvre 
a little surprised by the Emperor’s remark, thinking : 

“ What can he want to say about my wife ! Has she 
been quarrelling with those sisters again, I wonder?” 


310 


LV. 

LEFEBVRE REBUKES NAPOLEON. 

The dinner of the Emperor was prepared, and the 
■covers laid in the small dining-room that the victor of 
Jena preferred to the large state apartment. Since the 
departure of Josephine he had taken no meals with any 
of his convivial companions, but had at the last moment 
invited Duroc, Rapp, the chamberlain or some minister 
who had called to hand in a report. 

Napoleon never thoroughly enjoyed the pleasures of 
the table; he was a very rapid eater and swallowed his 
food without any regard for conventionality; he made it 
a point never to eat for more than fifteen minutes, and 
he lived up to this peculiarity even in his great banquets. 
He would push back his chair suddenly in the middle 
of a meal, making a sign with his hand that no one 
should be interrupted by his leaving; he always saw to 
it that a dinner was well served, because, although a 
poor judge in himself and not at all of a gourmet, he 
realized that those about him enjoyed the table to its 
full extent. His marshals were gifted with robust appe- 
tites and the Arch-chancellor Cambac^res earned the 
admiration of Napoleon by the manner in which he ab- 
sorbed enormous slices of roast meats and drank two 
carafes of chambertin, his favorite wine. Napoleon, 
who did not drink at all, always saw to it that two carafes 
of this were placed 'on each side of the Arch-chancellor. 

One day, rising suddenly from the table as was his 
habit, Napoleon said to Prince Eugene, who arose with 
him: 

“ But you have not had time to eat, Eugene ! ” 

“Pardon me, sire, but receiving Your Majesty’s invi- 
tation, I dined in advance.” 

And this wise precaution, inaugurated by the son of 
Josephine, was thereafter popular among those members 
of the Court who sat at the Imperial table. '' 

The Emperor breakfasted alone, never used a napkin, 
and had the plates set upon a small round table. He 
ate in a few moments eggs and cutlets, and it has been 
stated by those who have written of the intimate affairs 
of palace life that the Emperor was rather slovenly 
than otherwise at his meals; he did not always use a 
fork and he had a reprehensible habit of breaking his 


bread in his plate and mixing it with his gravy. He 
made no distinction whatsoever as to the society present 
and dined in the same manner whether his guests were 
princes, dukes, marshals or ladies 

Napoleon had his favorite dishes, chicken a la marengo^ 
so named by him after one of his great victories, and he 
also was fond of dishes of the workingman or farmer; 
lentils, beans, shoulder of veal grilled with lard. He 
was an amateur so far as wine was concerned and those 
from whom he bought made no secret of robbing him. 

The dinner to which Lefebvre was summoned was 
simply served, but was somewhat more pretentious than 
ordinarily. Napoleon was trying to accustom himself 
to remaining at the table after he had completed his 
meal; it was another sacrifice he was ready to make to 
his future wife. 

“ The Germans have such gross appetite and they are 
accustomed to prolonging their dinners, I presume I 
must accustom myself to it,” he argued. 

Lefebvre, who was a vigorous eater found no ob- 
jection to this new system Napoleon was introduc- 
ing, but he was a trifle uneasy during this meal for 
he could not determine in his mind why the Empe- 
ror had invited him and what he had to say concerning 
Catharine. 

When dinner was ended and coffee served, Napoleon 
said to Lefebvre, without any preliminaries: 

“ What do you think of my breaking with Josephine, 
all of you, all you marshals? You know the reason of 
it, don’t you ? I wish to know what is thought of my 
divorce and new marriage.” 

“ But, sire, we have not had any other idea than that 
which would please Your Majesty we should; we bow 
before your decision; we are not in the habit of discuss- 
ing your orders. The divorce and marriage is to us a 
change of front, a new manoeuvre that you probably 
feel it necessary to execute. We have no objections to 
make. I will tell you, truly, we mourn the Empress. 
She was good, gracious, with a kind word for every one 
who approached her, and we were accustomed to her 
and she was accustomed to us. Her fortunes had grown 
with our own, we were poor together, and rose with 
you, sire, to the position we now occupy. She never 
reproached us for our humble origin or our ignorance 
of the customs in the higher world of fashion. Oh, I 
know that some speak of us, of me and of my dear wife^ 


312 


the Queen of Naples, or those in the household of the 
Grand Duchess Elisa’' 

“ You exaggerate the raillery of my sisters. I know 
that they are pleased to turn their derision on the brave 
men who have aided to gain my battles, to establish 
this throne that they consider as a heritage in the 
family.” 

“The Empress Josephine, sire, never tolerated these 
questionable pleasantries and these sneers that wound, 
she treated every one with consideration and with regard 
to their feelings. We fear that a new sovereign, a 
princess educated in the court of Austria, in the midst 
of proud nobles, having all the prejudices of her caste 
will not think we are good enough, our origin will be 
too modest for an aristocratic lady. Sire, we have little 
sympathy with your daughter of an Emperor. That is 
what is said by your marshals, your generals, your com- 
panions from the battlefield.” 

“ Have no fear, my dear Lefebvre, Marie Louise is 
very good. Your new Empress will love and honor 
such heroes as you, Lefebvre, as Ney, as Oudinot, as 
Soult, as Mortier, Bessieres or Suchet. Your wounds 
are the noblest of crests, and your nobility has for its 
quarterings not the chimeras and the fantastic crowned 
griffins of other times, but captured cities, battered cita- 
dels, burning bridges, flags, thrones, all conquered by 
your prowess; this is modern heraldic science and Marie 
Louise knows it and respects it.” 

“ It is not altogether us, there are our wives, Lefebvre 
said. 

Napoleon made a gesture of impatience: 

“Yes, yes, I see! Your blessed wives didn’t win the 
battles.” 

“ Sire, they partook of our existence, they stimulated 
our courage, kept up our energies; they loved and ad- 
mired us, and they .are good wives who merit the favor 
of Your Majesty and the victories they have been a part 
of,” Lefebvre responded with energy. 

“Yes, I know; but some of these excellent wives, to 
whose virtue I render all homage, make the most ex- 
traordinary grand dames, remarkable duchesses. My 
God, didn’t you have enough of marriage when you were 
a sergeant?” 

“ Sire, it may be that I made a mistake when I was a 
sergeant, but I have never repented of it.” 

“You have a good and loyal heart, Lefebvre, and I 


3^3 


endorse your words as I do your actions; but, seriously, 
at this moment, here you are a marshal of the Empire, a 
grand officer of my crown, Duke of Danzig and your wife, 
very good woman, but she is out of her place; she ex- 
cites ridicule by her plebian manners; her language is 
still that of a woman who has been raised from the 
washtubs.” 

“ The Duchess of Danzig, or Madame Lefebvre, I love: 
I shall love her always, and nothing in her manners will 
ever cause me to forget the many years of happiness we 
have had together.” 

“ You were married under the Revolution, Lefebvre! ” 

“Yes, sire, we were. There could not be a stronger 
tie.” 

“ Do you believe that ? ” said Napoleon, looking 
fixedly at Lefebvre. 

“We are married, Catharine and I, and it is for life.” 

“ But I was married to Josephine, and ” 

“ Sire, that is different.” 

“Possibly! But, my dear Lefebvre, have you never 
thought about a divorce ? ” 

“ Never, sire! I consider a divorce” 

He stopped catching himself quickly with the thought 
that what he started to say might be misinterpreted as 
a criticism on the conduct of the Emperor. 

“ Now, see. Marshal,” continued Napoleon noticing 
Lefebvre’s embarrassment, “suppose we divorce our 
wives at the same time. I will see that the marchioness 
is well provided for, she shall have all possible attention, 
every honor shall be shown her in her new estate ; she 
shall preserve the title of duchess. You understand all 
that.” 

Lefebvre rose pale, agitated, his Jips trembled as if he 
would make the answer to his Emperor that his quick 
nature prompted. He leaned against the chimney piece 
while the Emperor with his hands crossed behind him 
and walking rapidly up and down the room, continued 
as though he were dictating an order for a battle. 

“ Once the divorce is pronounced, I will find for you 
a wife, a lady of the old court, with a title and a name 
and connections. It don’t make much difference about 
her fortune, I will give you all the money you want, 
enough for both of you. I believe the young no- 
bility should mix in with the old. You are a modern 
paladin, you will be classed with the heroes of the 
crusade. Now, see, we will found on the fusion of 


double France, the old and the new, a modern society, 
a modern order of the regenerated world. Then, there 
will no more be antagonism between the two aris- 
tocracies ; your children will be on a par with the heirs 
of the noblest families in Europe and within two gen- 
erations there will not exist any further traces, no mem- 
ories even of the division, of the hostility of the two 
parties ; there will be be only one France, one nobility, 
one people. Come, Lefebvre, get a divorce. I’ll find an- 
other wife for you.” 

“ Sire, you may send me to the confines of the globe, 
into the burning deserts of Africa, over the icy steppes 
of Siberia, you may dispose of me now and for ever, you 
may order me killed if you will; I shall obey; you may 
strip me of my rank, of my titles that I owe to my sword 
and to your generosity, but you can never influence me 
to renounce my love for my dear Catharine; you can 
never oblige me to separate from my companion who 
has been devoted to me during my unfortunate days 
and who will remain my wife until I die. No, sire, you 
will never see that; I deplore your disgrace and I shall 
never be divorced. Madame Lefebvre, marchioness and 
duchess by your will, will remain Madame Lefebvre by 
mine.” 

The Duke of Danzig spoke fiercely and violently, 
daring, for the first time, to defy the Emperor and resist 
his appeal. 

Napoleon looked at the Marshal intently and said : 

“ You are a brave man, a model husband, Duke. I 
cannot partake of your ideas, but I respect your scru- 
ples. What the devil ! I am not a tyrant. I will speak 
no more to you of divorce ; keep your washerwoman — 
only advise her to control her tongue and not to in- 
troduce in my Court, before the new Empress, brought 
up in the Imperial Palace of Vienna, the language of 
the markets and manners of Vauxhall. Go, Duke; I 
have an appointment with the Minister of Police ; you 
wish to return to your fireside.” 

Lefebvre saluted and withdrew, disturbed by the 
proposition of the Emperor and by the sarcastic words 
that had followed his rebuke. As the Marshal disap- 
peared, Napoleon looked after him, shrugged his shoul- 
ders and muttered ; 

“ Imbecile ! ” 


3^5 


LVI. 

THE HEART AFLAME. 

Lefebvre, discontented, restless, and with inflamed 
countenance wondered how the Emperor would take 
his resistance and endure the moral defeat which 
he had inflicted, and, grumbling, went to his apart- 
ments. 

He found Catharine trying on a court costume in view 
of the ceremonies attendant on the Imperial marriage. 

She threw everything away on seeing her husband, 
flew to meet him, and clasped him in her arms, greeting 
him joyously and familiarly, then the next moment, 
seeing his troubled face: 

What’s the matter ? she cried with anguish. “ Has 
any one fired at the Emperor?” 

“ No, His Majesty is well ! Very well ! ” 

‘‘ Ah ! What a relief,” said Catharine. 

The possibility of the sudden death of Napoleon 
haunted the soul of every one. It was the worse 
catastrophe that could be imagined. The dread of it 
not only tormented those near the Imperial person, but 
the entire nation, and was not without its value to the 
audacious prospects of Mallet and the Philadelphians. 

Catharine repeated her question: 

“Well! What’s the matter? You come — you go — 
you don’t seem to be able to rest quiet a moment. ’Tis 
something serious, then?” 

“ Very serious ! ” 

And Lefebvre began to pace the room — something 
after the fashion of his Imperial master. 

“You have had a quarrel with His Majesty?” asked 
Catharine. 

“ Yes, we tackled each other. The Emperor charged 
me from the rear. I resisted his attack as well as I 
could. I took the offensive — and — and ” 

“ And what — pray ? ” 

“ I beat him. ’Tis very dangerous to beat the Em- 
peror. He is the sort of man to be revenged.” 

“ Likely enough ? But what on earth did you quarrel 
about ? ” 

“ About you ! ” 

“About me! Nonsense — impossible.” 


$i6 

“ It is true. Fancy what the Emperor wanted me to 
do with you! ” 

‘‘ How should I know? Perhaps he wanted you to 
send me to that castle we talked about buying— for 
which he gave you the money — at Danzig, you know ! ” 

“ In fact, it was afar^ off — in the country that he 
wanted me to send you.” 

“ Why didn’t you agree to his wishes. A short visit 
to the country would rest me, we should have a coach 
to drive about in, dogs, a cow to give us milk. I think 
’twould be delightful, and besides, don’t you see, 
Lefebvre, I am sick and tired of these court fops (chip- 
pies) who make game of us. I don’t see the fun of all 
these fetes — these receptions of the Emperor, and the 
wedding that draws near will be nothing but standing 
for hours and hours on one’s hind paws, with mantles 
that are awfully heavy, corsets that strangle one and 
hairpins that stick into one.. If the Emperor wants to 
send us to the country — to this estate lie has chosen, let 
us go at once — let us buy the castle and settle down! We 
shall have peace and quiet for a long time — perhaps, for 
ever! Why didn’t you agree-at once ? Why didn’t you 
say, ‘ Sire, we are ready ! ’” 

“ Because, my good Catharine, when the Emperor 
spoke of sending you to a distant castle, he didn’t in- 
clude me ! ” 

‘‘ What ? ” 

“ Yes, I was to stay behind with him! ” 

“ That’s a pretty notion — to part us in time of peace 
— I like that! So, I was not to go with you to the field, 
as your aide-de-camp — a standard-bearer! and to-day 
— when all Europe is at peace. What’s the matter with 
the Emperor, I wonder?” 

“ Not only did he want to separate us, my dear Cath- 
arine, but do you know what he intended doing with 
me ? ” 

“ Not I! Perhaps to give you a command in the army, 
or, to make you ruler of some great State — Naples or 
Holland ! ” 

“ You’re out there! He wanted to make me marry ! ” 

Catharine screamed. 

“ You marry — and how about me ?” 

“ You were to be divorced ! ” 

“Divorced! I! He dared to propose that! He had 
the impudence to speak of divorce! It’s abominable! 
What did you say, Lefebvre ? ” 


The Marshal opened his arms and smiled. Catharine 
fell into them. 

The husband and wife embraced with ardor — happy 
to be near each other — hugging as if to reassure them- 
selves after the fright that the very idea of separation 
had called up in their hearts; they protested by that 
fond embrace against the divorce of which the Emperor 
had spoken. Nothing should separate them ; they 
vowed in that silent and sweet embrace that the very 
thought of such violence was abhorrent to them. 

“And what answer did you make to the Emperor?” 
Catharine asked, after a long silence, disengaging her 
hands from her husband’s arms. 

Lefebvre led his wife to a sofa, made her sit down 
beside him, and whispered, looking tenderly into her 
eyes, and holding her hand in his: 

“ I told the Emperor I loved you, Catharine, you 
and only you; that having lived together happily all 
the years of our lives we had but one hope, one wish, 
to live together to the end, to dwell side by side, till 
some Russian or Spanish bullet should send me to re- 
join Hoche, Desaix, Lannes, all those comrades of my 
battles past.” 

“ You said well, Lefebvre ! What will the Emperor 
mix up in next, I wonder. Does he want everybody to 
be divorced because he is ? But he must have had some 
project, some plan ? ” 

“ Don’t I tell you he wants me to get married!” * 

“And to whom. I’d like to know ! Yes, I am jealous! 
Tell me .the name of the woman he proposed .to you. 
He has taken up a nice trade for an Emperor — some 
woman he wants to get rid of, one of his cast-off mis- 
tresses, no doubt. That Gazzani woman, — or that 
Eleonore, or the fair Pole ! ” 

“ He mentioned no name ! ” 

“ That’s good ! ” 

“ He spoke generally. He wants me to imitate him, 
to follow his lead. He has an Archduchess, and he 
would have us all marry into some noble family.” 

“ AVhat ideas ! See here, my poor Lefebvre, I’m not 
speaking for you. I know you too well, but the other 
Marshals, what could they do with those beautiful ladies 
— so proud of their ancestry ? Isn’t Augerau the son of 
a hawker in the markets; Ney, Massena, every one of 
them, aren’t they children of the people, like you and I ? 
What folly to want to give them wives who would cast 


3i8 


it up to them, iaugii at them and deceive them with 
other nobles like themselves. Lefebvre, I am beginning 
to fear that our Emperor has a slight strain of folly in 
him after all. It is stupid in him to marry the daughter 
of an Emperor, vrho will always despise him as a soldier 
of fortune.” 

The Emperor has his reasons, no doubt ! ” 

And we have ours ! However, you refused — de- 
cidedly refused ! ” 

“Do you doubt it?” said Lefebvre tenderly, as he 
kissed his wife again. 

Blushing with pleasure, Catharin-e grew calm. 

“ Don’t be alarmed, you know well enough I would 
never marry another woman,” said Lefebvre, smiling. 

“I should think not, indeed; don’t you belong to me? 
didn’t you swear you would be mine and mine only till 
death did us part ? ” 

“Yes, I vowed that before the Justice of Peace. It’s 
a long time ago, but I’ve never forgotten it, my Catha- 
rine ! It was the oath I took when I married you.” 

“ Nor I ; and besides, if you had been tempted to 
forget, there’s something to remind you.” 

“ What ? ” said Lefebvre, 'puzzled. 

“ That ! ” said Catharine, turning up the sleeve of his 
uniform and showing a heart aflame, with the motto, 
“ To Catharine, for life,” tattooed in blue on his skin. 
It was his bridal gift. 

“ K won’t rub out,” cried Catharine in triumph; “ could 
you marry an archduchess with such a thing on your 
arm? I wonder what she’d say when she saw it ? I 
guess she would want to know who this Catharine was 
to whom you vowed to be faithful. She’d be apt to 
raise Cain. Ah, me ! You can’t go back on that 
promise, my old Fran9ois ! ” 

“True enough; and the other arm wouldn’t please 
her either,” said Lefebvre laughing and pulling up the 
second sleeve showing another tattooing dated August 
loth, with this inscription plain to be seen : 

“ Death to all Tyrants ! ” 

“ There, you see we are bound for life,” said Catharine, 
leaning her head happily on Lefebvre’s bosom. 

“Yes, for life,” murmured the Marshal. 

“I should like the Emperor to come in and catch us 
now,” said Catharine. And the husband and wife, more 
firmly united than ever, embracing, joining their souls 
and mutually caressing, crowned the victory gained by 
Lefebvre over Napoleon. 


LVII. 


1?HE Dream of the archduchess. 

In the simple, modest chamber occupied by her on 
the second floor of the Imperial Palace of Vienna, 
Marie Louise, alone, sat playing with a little dog, 
Keisu, a tiny, frisky creature, presented to her by the 
Austrian ambassador to England, one of those curly- 
haired creatures with a nose like a fox and called King 
Charles spaniels, in flippant remembrance of King 
Charles II., who loved the diminutive animals and pre- 
sented six of them to his mistress, the Duchess of Ports- 
mouth, to keep her company in her lonely boudoir. 
The dogs were just then the rage in the fashionable 
world and Marie Louise had cultivated an attachment 
for hers that was stronger than any she had yet enjoyed. 

A knock at the door aroused the Princess from her 
indolent pastime and, in response to her almost in- 
audible invitation to enter, there came the one maid of 
honor, duenna, femme de chambre, allowed as the entire 
retinue of this exceedingly simple-living Duchess. The 
maid entered with a rush, her eyes glistening, her face 
flushed, her appearance that of one who was startled by 
some extraordinary event. 

“What is it?” said Marie Louise, in surprise. “Is 
the palace on fire ? ” 

“ No, the palace is not on fire ; but your Imperial 
father, the Emperor, is coming here.” 

“ My father ! Coming to my room ! What in the 
world does he want ? ” 

“ I don’t know. Your Highness will learn very soon, 
no doubt.” ' 

And the duenna, curbing her loyal emotion, made a 
majestic reverence and slipped out as the Emperor of 
Austria approached. 

Francis II., or Francis Joseph L, Emperor of Austria, 
was an insignificant monarch. He had fought persist- 
ently against the French Revolution and then against 
Napoleon, and he fought for the defense of what he 
considered the basis of social order, the maintenance of 
the privileges enjoyed exclusively by the nobility, and 
for the destruction of all democracy. He loved his 
daughter Marie Louise with that stolid and fatty affec- 
tion peculiar to the German race, and he thought she 


320 


would be happy with Napoleon placed on a throne that 
was founded on the glories of fifty battles. The Em- 
peror of France was at that time the richest sovereign 
of Europe and he was regarded as the most generous 
monarch that ruled a state. Francis II. looked with 
selfish satisfaction on the presents, the jewelry, the 
laces, the magnificent dresses that had been sent to his 
daughter by her Imperial fiance. At the same time, 
he instructed his representative in Paris, Prince von 
Schwartzenberg, that the Court was poor and that cer- 
tain donations from the national museum and the na- 
tional manufactories of France would be acceptable to 
the poverty-stricken aristocracy of Vienna. Then, on 
a word from Napoleon, desirous of gratifying his pro- 
spective father-in-law, happy to show his fiance the 
sumptuous extent of his liberality, Servan, Mollien, all 
the officials of the museum and the palaces hastened to 
respond to the Austrian appeal. 

They pillaged the Gobelin factories, they exhausted 
the resources of Sevres, they selected the handsomest 
pieces from Aubusson, they created the most beautiful 
furniture, objects of art, hangings and sent them all to 
Vienna. The future father-in-law received these gifts 
with infinite pleasure as proofs of the munificence of 
Napoleon, and later in return he refused to send Na- 
poleon at St. Helena two horses for his carriage and 
delicacies for his table. 

But this was the political instinct of Francis II. ; he was 
pleased to have Napoleon as his ally and he saw in this 
marriage a new prop to his throne; he saw victories from 
which he would reap a benefit and he saw a desirable 
substitute for the broken Russian Alliance. 

He received with joy an autograph letter from Na- 
poleon announcing the arrival at Vienna of Berthier, 
Prince of Neufchatel, charged with a mission officially 
asking the hand of Marie Louise. The consent of 
Francis was given in advance, there rested only one 
little formality to definitely arrange the union, the prep- 
aration of the young Archduchess that she might 
leave for Paris and become Empress of the French. 

It was the news of her departure that Francis II. came 
to announce personally to his daughter. 

Marie Louise was eighteen years of age, strong but 
without grace, nothing in her actions that was piquant, 
not even amiable, substantial, a peachy, fresh complex- 
ion. She was pretty, but with the beauty of a girl 


321 


who might work in a beer saloon, — fat arms, heavy 
frame, large feet, voluminous bosom, lips that were 
large and sensual, her eyes very blue, very cold, expres- 
sionless. She was a pretty animal, quiet, indifferent 
and with very little delicacy. 

^ Napoleon, looking at the description in all its varia- 
tion, had accepted with pleasure the physicial acquire- 
ments of his fiance. This massive Princess would be 
an excellent pouliniere ; certainly she would give the 
Empire an heir. 

Of her moral character the report was equally pleas- 
ing. The Princess had been educated with a care that 
was minute and searching, severe almost as that of a 
convent. Her education was thorough and even sur- 
passed that which prevailed at the time among 'those of 
her rank. She was mistress of almost every art; she 
spoke with equal fluency nearly every language of 
Europe, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, 
Bohemian and Arabic. She was destined from her birth 
to marry some ruling, prince and her parents saw that 
she was educated in her childhood with the idiom of 
her future subjects. Nor had music been forgotten — the 
elaborate harp prot^ided by Napoleon and which Le- 
febvre had admired in the Tuileries, proved her future 
husband was not ignorant of her talents as a musician. 
As to her religion, she had been thoroughly imbued with 
the exterior signs of -all creeds without having cul- 
tivated their dogmas to an embarrassing extent. The 
chances of a political union might give her a husband 
who was Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran or Calvinist, and 
it should never be said that religion had been found an 
obstacle to an alliance that was in the interests of the 
Austrian Court. 

In the greatest simplicity she had been reared and 
now lived, the repeated reverses, the lost provinces, the 
armies destroyed and reorganized, the war levies had 
exhausted the Austrian treasury. The Court of Vienna 
lived upon an economical scale, no feasts, no State re- 
ceptions, only little family soirees that were almost 
provincial in their nature, an occasional musicale with 
modest refreshments, no handsome or expensive furni- 
ture in the apartments, no art objects in the great 
galleries. The youthful Marie Louise lived very much 
like a farmer’s wife in the palace of her father. She 
was constantly on the alert ready to throw her clothes 
and little properties into her trunk and flee at the alarm 


322 


of ‘‘Napoleon!” From her earliest years her heart 
had been startled by the affrighted cry of : 

“ The French ! ” 

Then when this warning ran through the corridors 
the palace had been in an uproar; her memory was filled 
with visions of dignified chamberlains flying with almost 
unwieldly limbs down the long halls, with the gold key 
of their office flapping against their back at every jump, 
the servants throwing pell-mell into the boxes and cof- 
fers the clothing, the precious objects, the palace uten- 
sils. Bareheaded officers rushing in bringing blood- 
curdling news of the conqueror’s approach, the streets 
filled with cowardly refugees, with wounded patriots, 
all sending up a dolorous cry to heaven deploring their 
defeat. The bells would be ringing out their alarms, 
bands of blanched countrymen would be shouting 
beneath the palace windows, “ Peace! peace ! ” Her 
father, his eyes popping from his head, half dressed, 
would be standing in the door of his bedroom calling at 
the top of his voice, “ Have we got time to get into the 
mountains ? ” And finally she remembered how she 
would be seized by a nurse and hustled down into a 
covered carriage, and the horses put upon a furious 
/gallop towards the Tyrol, while around her were hyster- 
ical women, startled fops tearing their hair and throwing 
their arms towards heaven and crying: 

“ All is lost ! ” 

Napoleon, in the imagination of the fugitive princess, 
was a Corsican ogre who drank clear blood, who sat 
upon an enormous horse, carried a sword that was drip- 
ping with the gore of innocents, who was a crowned 
bandit, followed by a mob of butchers and vagabonds, 
pillaging palaces, wearing red hats, carrying a guillo- 
tine with them and its knife never dry, slaughtering 
defenseless men and defenseless women. 

But at the first words from her father Marie Louise 
accepted the situation with docility. She declared the 
marriage he proposed was not displeasing to her; she 
knew France was a great and beautiful country, and 
that her rank as Empress would place her among the 
greatest sovereigns of Europe and above the members 
of her own family. At the same time she considered 
the magnificent presents Napoleon had prepared for 
her; she knew the riches that were hers in Paris W'here 
her future husband awaited her with impatience. So 
Marie Louise responded as a docile and obedient 


323 


daughter should that while she certainly regretted leav- 
ing her excellent father, her family that was so affection- 
ate and the Court where she had passed her young years, 
yet she accepted without objection the offer to become 
the wife of the Emperor of France if her father thought 
it were best. She announced that she was ready to 
go to Paris and the Prince of Neufchatel should be so 
advised. 

Francis II. embraced his daughter tenderly; he shed 
no tears, he showed no emotion, and with a passive 
manner and perfect indifference the daughter accepted 
the new situation. She expressed no surprise at the 
disposition that had been made of her, but recognized 
a political advantage which was not entirely clear to 
her. She obeyed her father without comment while 
mentally she enumerated over and over again the pres- 
ents accompanying her nuptials. The only questions 
she asked were as to the probable value and importance 
of these presents and satisfied herself as to the amount 
of money and the amount of power the man she pro- 
posed to marry could command, she assured herself that 
she would be in a position in her exalted rank to make 
all the other princesses madly envious. That satis- 
fied her. 

Before he left her, Francis II. said to his daughter: 

“You will be alone Louise in the midst of a strange 
people and far from us, surrounded by brave soldiers 
and brilliant women, but where there will be nothing 
to remind you of your country. I have considered this, 
and believe it best some of our family go with you, that 
you may have a companion in Paris” 

“ My dear Keisu! My pretty little King Charles!” 
said Marie Louise, clapping her hands and joyful at the 
thought she wo dd not lose her inseparable friend. 

“ No 1 ” answered Francis, “ it is not Keisu, Napoleon 
detests dogs, and Keisu can remain here in Vienna, she 
shall be well taken care of.” 

Marie Louise, disappointed and provoked, resumed 
her seat and squeezed out a few tears from her blue 
eyes. She tapped^he floor nervously with her foot, she 
did not want any of her family with her, her dog was 
probably the only creature in the world she loved, Cold, 
haughty, reserved, she had no youthful feelings, no 
virgin curiosity, no vague attraction towards the un- 
known, the desire for love did not exist in her calm 
soul, selfish and closed to every generous aspiration, 


and despite the realization that the ardent and amorous 
blood of the impetuous Marie Therese flowed in her 
veins, that she was related to Marie Caroline, Queen of 
Naples, and rich in the history of famous revelries, to 
Marie Amelia, Duchess of Parma, whos'e loves were in- 
numerable, to Marie Antoinette of France, the queen 
of the diamond necklace, the lover of Polignac and of 
Lamballe, but the hour of awakening had not yet 
sounded and with senses dormant Marie Louise coldly 
awaited the birth of pleasure. 

Later Marie Louise sacrificed everything to her pas- 
sion, reason, will, loyalty, and for her insatiable thirst 
for love she was a traitor to her husband, she abandoned 
her son, renounced her throne, forgot her prudence, de- 
based her name. 

One day while walking in the Park of Schoenbrunn, 
she saw in the centre of a fountain a pretty blue flower 
rearing its modest head aniid a wealth of aquatic plants. 
Fruitlessly she tried to reach the tiny shrub and impru- 
dently resting her foot upon the mossy edge of the 
basin she leaned forward with her parasol to draw it 
towards her. But the treacherous mold beneath her 
foot gave way, and with a cry she fell into the water. 

The woman with her ran frightened towards the 
palace for aid, and the white swans disturbed in their 
placid contentment fled in an opposite direction, the 
Princess was helpless and cried aloud for help. Sud- 
denly she was seized by strong arms and lifted from the 
danger and seated dripping on the grassy lawn. 

A man, elegant in his person and in his dress, unknown 
to her and to her maid who had returned at the sight 
of the rescue, stood before them, offering his respectful 
salutation and wringing the water from his saturated 
clothes. Marie Louise held her hand towards him, 
and said: 

“Thank you very much, without you I think I should 
have been lost.” 

The unknown, without making any response, kissed 
the hand he held within his own. 

“ And you have done all this for one you do not 
know,” said Marie Louise, for the attitude of her de- 
liverer disposed her favorably towards him. 

The Princess regarded the gentleman with interest 
and curiosity; he was richly dressed, wore a powdered 
wig, silk stockings and a jewelled sword, and without 
hesitation had thrown himself into the water which at 


325 


this season was quite cold. As she looked at him, he 
offered her, with graceful politeness, the little blue 
flower that had been the cause of her mishap. 

Marie Louise, surprised and charmed, struck perhaps 
by one of those secret and certain presentiments which 
in love precede the avowal of passion and of tenderness, 
regarded with lively attention this cavalier who after 
having thrown himself into the water to rescue a life, 
had not hesitated to plunge in again to gratify a desire. 
She gave no attention to the disorder of his toilette and 
it was, indeed, almost ludicrous in its condition, his 
peruque was twined with weeds from the fountain and 
his hat was running little rivulets through its involun- 
tary bath. 

The Archduchess took the flower from his trembling 
hand and placed it to her lips as though she would read 
in its mute petals the secret of the unknown. 

“ Pardon me, sir,” she said, “ will you tell me your 
name? The Emperor, my father, will much desire the 
acquaintance of a gentleman who has not hesitated to 
throw himself into the water to satisfy one of my 
caprices.” 

The gentleman blushing with pleasure, replied : 

“ I am the Comte de Neipperg, Consul-General in the 
service of His Majesty the Emperor. I have an audi- 
ence with His Majesty for this morning, and I pray 
Your Highness will have the goodness to excuse me 
that I may return to my apartments and resume a suit- 
able costume to appear before the Emperor.” 

“ Go, Comte, I excuse you for my father, and when 
he learns from me the cause of your delay you may 
consider he has pardoned you in advance ” 

And since she had met Neipperg she had carried with 
her an unextinguishable memory, an impression as pro- 
found as a wounded heart, all springing from this unin- 
tentional meeting on the borders of the treacherous 
fountain. 

“ No, my dear daughter, Keisu will not be your com- 
panion,” the Emperor continued, as he was about to 
leave the room. “ I have arranged to place at your dis- 
posal a master of the horse, an officer of honor, who 
shall always be at your command, who will by his 
presence remind you of your country, who will tell 
you of your father and the incidents occurring here, 
who will keep you informed of our affairs, a gentle- 
jnan of position and influence, worthy in every way 


^26 

to enjoy this confidential post. Don’t you know who 
he is ? ” 

“ I am exceedingly obliged, my father, for the interest 
you manifest,” the young Archduchess responded, tran- 
quilly, but I dislike to impose upon any countryman 
of mine so great an obligation, and I know I shall regret 
my little Keisu.” 

“ Your new officer begins his services to-morrow, my 
daughter, because the Prince of Neufchatel has ar- 
rived.” 

“ Always at your orders, father.” 

“ But you have not asked the name of the gentleman,” 
said the Emperor, a little annoyed at the indifference of 
his daughter. 

“ That is true ; what is his name ? ” 

“ Comte de Neipperg ; he has long been in our serv- 
ice and was formerly accredited to Marie Antoinette. 
His age and character indicate an excellent cavalier 
and I hope you will be satisfied with my choice.” 

“ Yes, my father,” Marie Louise replied, delighted to 
again meet the gallant unknown. 


LVIII. 

THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE. 

On the nth of March, i8io, Marie Louise was espoused 
by proxy, at Vienna. The Archduke Charles, in this 
representative ceremony, acted for the Imperial husband. 

Berthier, in great pomp, left Vienna with the new 
Empress. At Brannen, which marked the limits of the 
Austrian States, the ladies of the palace and the German 
officers left the royal party and the Emperor Francis, 
who had travelled thus far incognito, embraced his 
daughter with great tenderness and every indication of 
deep feeling, while she remained passively insensible to 
any exhibition of grief that would appear to come natu- 
rally at such a moment, and while the tears coursed down 
the cheeks of this monarch who, it might be thought, 
would have been hardened through suffering twenty 
defeats, Marie Louise was impassive and indifferent. 

The Archduchess had evinced no regret in leaving 
the palace wherein had been passed the years of her 
childhood; her eyes were dry when she parted from her 
father who loved her, but wlipna she never loved, The 


327 

only true sentiment she showed in the course of her 
trip was when she referred to her little dog. 

The Queen of Naples, sister of Napoleon, had come 
here to meet Marie Louise and to accompany her on the 
remainder of her journey, which from this point was a 
progress of ovations, of bouquets offered by the munic- 
ipalities, of triumphal arches, speeches, banquets, and 
bursts of music. Aroused by these attentions that were 
entirely new to her, Marie Louise was delighted with 
her trip; she showed no desire to hasten so as to meet 
her husband, no more than she felt any regret for her 
family, her country that she had left with no knowledge 
of when she should return. 

Undemonstrative as an image, apathetic as a Hindoo 
divinity, she passed through her series of triumphs with- 
out one amiable word to respond to the compliments of 
the officials, without one smile to distribute among- the 
people that pressed about her. 

From time to time she turned gaily to address a few 
words to Neipperg, jvho followed in a carriage with his 
escort. 

Napoleon was impatiently counting the days and 
hours ; he'was consumed by a fever of anxiety and was 
in a nervous condition that impelled him to commit 
numberless follies. He denounced the official pro- 
grammes, the receptions, the ceremonies. He passed 
no moment that was not brightened by thoughts of the 
approaching Princess ; courier followed courier in er- 
rands to the royahcortege and to return with the latest 
information of their progress. Chamberlains and spe- 
cial envoys were daily dispatched to assure the new Em- 
press of her welcome and the impatience of the lover 
who was awaiting her. 

Thinking of the slightest means by which he could 
bring pleasure to the heart of the Archduchess, Napo- 
leon had ordered the pictures showing victories by the 
French over the Austrians and which hung in the 
palace galleries, to be covered with draperies so as to 
conceal their figures feeling, possibly, that the daugh- 
ter of Francis would be pained in viewing the defeats 
of her father. 

Finally he arranged with great care the details of the 
marriage fetes, the ceremonies to be observed, which 
were to be in every respect similar to those at the union 
of Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin. 

He was passionately in love with Marie Louise with’ 


■ 3-’8 

out any other acquaintance with her than portraits that 
probably were inexact ; but his passion was rather called 
forth by the aristocratic blood of the demoiselle. He 
could not dissimulate his joy, his happiness, his triumph, 
that he, — poor Corsican whose mother had gone to 
market with a basket on her arm, who had known pov- 
erty, almost starvation, — that he should be about to wed 
an Archduchess, daughter and granddaughter of three 
Emperors. An Archduchess was more than a woman 
to him — she was an earthly divinity. He felt Gcd 
had especially arranged this marriage ; he imagined 
everything that was extravagant ; this foolish genius, 
so strong, usually master of himself and of others, so 
imposing and so terrible at times, was now meek, silly, 
like a small boy that has been given a German doll. 

It was perhaps the only moment of his prodigious 
career that Napoleon the Great appeared to be small. 

He excused his feebleness by contending that love 
ennobled all, elevated all, and that this truthful, pro- 
found but ridiculous passion made all humanity forget 
its reason. Such argument indeed appears fallacious 
in the face of later history, when we know with what 
complacency Madame Bonaparte consented to be known 
as Madame de Neipperg. This sentimental passion Napo- 
leon declared we all were liable to feel, brings him from 
his pedestal and shows him in his love for the Austrian 
to be the same enthusiast as is the college student in his 
love for an unattainable actress. But Napoleon’s love 
cost him more dearly and cost France far beyond the 
value of its lavish display in welcoming this indifferent 
stranger. The maledictions of the French people have 
long since drowned the smiles and flowers that greeted 
this immoral Empress who opened her arms to, Neip- 
perg, and Paris to the Cossacks. 

A special order had been given providing for the first 
meeting of their majesties. It was between Compiegne 
and Soissons that the Imperial interview was to take 
place. 

At two leagues from Soissons a large plain had been 
selected and two pavilions erected side by side protec- 
ted from intrusion by a strong barrier, and here the 
meeting was to be had. The Emperor left for Com- 
piegne at the moment when Marie Louise was approach- 
ing it, he was accompanied by princes and princesses, 
by the great officers of his household, riding in five 
carriages and escorted by a detachment of the National 


329 

Guard. Tt was arranged that the Emperor and Empress 
should leave their carriages and meet in the tents, where 
they might enjoy their first embrace. Then they would 
ride together in the same carriage to Compiegne where 
the authorities had made elaborate preparations for a 
grand reception. But all this was upset by the impetu- 
osity of Napoleon; the lover overcame the sovereign, he 
was guilty of an indiscretion that was truly inexcusable. 

When he learned the Empress had left Gitry for 
Soissons, he could restrain himself no longer; he entered 
a carriage with Murat and hastened before his escort to 
greet his wife, wishing to come upon her unawares and 
unknown. 

They were then separated by fifteen leagues and it 
was at a small village known as Courcelles that Napo- 
leon came within sight of the Archduchess’s cortege. 
At once upon its coming into view Napoleon jumped 
from his vehicle and hastened towards that of Marie 
Louise, which he found to contain his sister and Berthier 
and he entered without delay, at the same instant 
overwhelming his bride with impulsive compliments 
and caresses that occasioned her the liveliest surprise. 

He directed the postillions to urge their horses for- 
ward and reach Compiegne as quickly as possible. They 
galloped ahead and passed at breakneck speed before 
the tent erected for the serious purpose of the solemn 
meeting of the Imperial cou.ple. They made no stop, 
which caused the greatest disappointment to the assem- 
bled officials, Court attaches and enormous crowds of 
loyal subjects gathered from the surrounding country. 

It was ten o’clock on the night of March 28th that 
Napoleon and Marie arrived at the Palace of Compiegne. 
The Empress found her rooms elaborately prepared for 
her reception, with all the comforts and elegances that 
the resources of the city could furnish and the thoughts 
of an admiring people could suggest. 

Napoleon occupied apartments at the Hotel de la 
Chancellerie. 

The civil marriage was fixed for the first of April, and 
on the second of April the religious ceremony was per- 
formed in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. 

That evening Napoleon and Marie Louise sat long at 
their private supper and it seemed as though here might 
be a responsive spark kindled in the calm Marie Louise 
in return for the lavishness of Napoleon’s attentions. 

^ ^ 


330 


The ladies of the Court wehe stupefied the following 
morning to find Comte de Neipperg in the ante-chamber 
of the Empress, seated upon a fauteuil, weeping with 
rage. 


LIX 

napoleon’s jealousy. 

Did Marie Louise ever love Napoleon ? 

It is possible that in the first months of their union, 
brought about by the Austrian Court as a matter of di- 
plomacy, the young princess having tasted the pleasures 
of marriage, may have entertained some such feeling, 
but later not only did she forget her honeymoon but she 
had no scruples in confessing that Napoleon had always 
been indifferent to her. Here is how she received news 
of his death, the final catastrophe making her the 
widow of an Emperor : 

A courier brought to her at Parma this brief despatch 
from her father : 

“ General Bonaparte died at Saint Helena on the 5th 
of May, 1821, at forty-five minutes past five in the even- 
ing, after a long ^nd distressing illness. I send you, my 
dear child, my affectionate consolation. I join my 
prayers to yours for the repose of his soul and I raise 
my voice to God that He will preserve Your Majesty 
under His holy care. Francis.” 

When she wrote her father acknowledging the re- 
ceipt of his dispatch and the news it contained, her 
words were : 

“ I confess I am deeply wounded. While I have never 
had a lively sentiment of any sort for him, I cannot 
forget he is the father of my son and far from 
neglecting me, as the world has accused him, he always 
showed me the greatest regard and kindness and his 
sole object seerned to be to rid me of the idea he 
married me for political reasons. I am then very sad 
and yet I am gratified he has ended his unhappy 
existence as a Christian.” 

These cold sentiments do not indicate a very cheerful 
remembrance of the hours of their intimacy, or of the 
pleasures in their wedded experience. She had married 
to gratify a vain desire, he had united himself with the 
daughter of the Emperor of Austria wishing for children 
that could claim an archduchess for their mother, but 


331 


once married he became a slave to love and it was really 
the wife for whom he had affection. He exercised his 
ingenuit}’^ to please her, he multiplied his presents, he 
was prodigal in his attentions. Marie Louise received 
it all with haughty indifference as though it were a trib- 
ute due to her. One single attention only that Napo- 
leon could show her excited response and called forth a 
joyous recognition. 

We have spoken of the despair Marie Louise felt in 
separating from her little dog, Keisu. The aversion of 
Napoleon for these animals about the palace was what 
made it necessary for her to abandon her King Charles, 
but Berthier, having received the confidences of the 
Archduchess and being acquainted with the disappoint- 
ment she felt had arranged, if Napoleon would consent, 
to agreeably surprise the young Empress. He had 
secretly on the day of their departure from Vienna, and 
after Marie Louise had bestowed her final caress upon 
Keisu, put the little animal in a traveling basket and 
carried it to Paris. 

There Berthier reporting to the Emperor what he 
had done, apologized for the intrusion and asked 
whether he might present it to the Empress. Far from 
being provoked, the Emperor commended Berthier upon 
his thoughtfulness and at once directed that a pretty 
basket of rose colored silk should be made for the re- 
ception of the dog. When this was finished he adroitly 
directed the conversation to the King Charles that had 
been left behind in Vienna, and as the young wife clearly 
showed her feeling, he opened the door and said in his 
lively tone, his eyes sparkling with good humor: 

“ Don’t ci>y, Louise, here is your little companion found 
again ! ” 

Marie Louise seized Keisu and covered her with 
caresses, the first evidence of tenderness she had dis- 
played, rewarding the Emperor with an embrace almost 
as ardent, and Napoleon rested quite content for the 
balance of the day under a love reflected upon him in 
the passionate affection aroused by the King Charles. 

Not only for his Louise, as he called her, had he 
struggled to correct his plebian taste or overcome his 
aversion for dogs, but he had corrected his most invet- 
erate faults and particularly his unhappy habit of eating 
and drinking with such gross haste. Marie Louise had 
a vigorous appetite and she remained at the table far 
beyond anything Napoleon had ever been reconciled to, 


332 


blit even this he recognized and resigned himself to it 
most happily. At forty-one years of age he changed 
the habits of his youth; he adopted a gaiety to which 
he had always been a stranger, he organized entertain- 
ments, made up garden parties, amused his wife with all 
sorts of games and in the evenings he gave fetes and 
pleasant entertainments in the park of Saint Cloud. 

Marie Louise wished to ride, and he neglected for the 
first time in his career the affairs of his country, the 
orders he should have dictated, the reports he should 
have studied, the details of the administration of this 
vast Empire that always passed beneath his eyes, merely 
to gallop through the park by the side of his young 
amazon. 

Unhappily complications arose in the political world 
that forced him to interrupt these pleasant hours and 
to devote his time to the labors of his country. To him 
it meant a heavy heart, to Marie Louise — indifference. 

When Napoleon was thus deprived of the society of 
the Empress in her daily recreations, drawing bridle 
and returning to the palace and to the laborious duties 
of his exalted post, she would say in her unruffled 
tones: 

“I cannot bear your disputes with Savaryand Talley- 
rand; go and give attention to your soldiers and the 
police, I will take a few more turns around the park. 
And, oh, don’t be uneasy, nothing will harm me, Neip- 
perg will accompany me.” 

With a pleasant smile the Emperor would leave her 
attaching no unworthy thought to the presence of Neip- 
perg. This attendant on the Empress, who was appoint- 
ed by her father, was a sort of tutor selected by Fran- 
cis II., wherein no thought of an intrigue could certainly 
arise. The age of Neipperg and his subordinate posi- 
tion forbade any suspicion in the mind of the Emperor. 

The jealousy of Napoleon and the dismissal of Neip- 
perg burst upon them both with stupefying suddenness. 

Napoleon, accompanying the Empress on horseback 
through the beautiful roads of St. Cloud, was checked 
at a turn of the way by the tall figure of a man . stand- 
ing on the edge of the grass and holding aloft an enor- 
mous cane as though to attract the attention of the Im- 
perial couple. 

The man was a giant in stature, wore an old, faded 
blue coat, but upon his breast there glittered and 
sparkled the brilliant star of the Legion of Honor, the 


333 


unspeaking evidence of its wearer’s bravery. His left 
arm was held behind his back and his right extended, 
the hand grasping the enormous cane adorned with a 
silver head. The man in this half civil, half military 
costume was accompanied by a woman clothed entirely 
in black. 

Napoleon and Marie Louise were followed by Comte 
de Neipperg and the faithful Roustan, in his Mameluke 
costume, with turban, Turkish pantaloons, scimitar and 
pistols protruding from his belt. Napoleon was the 
soul of bravery and no emergency, however threaten- 
ing, ever overbalanced the perfect repose he felt in his 
destiny and in his own ability to overcome his enemies. 

But when he rode through the country with the Em- 
press he always took the precaution of having Roustan 
near at hand, fully armed to come to his aid if neces- 
sary. 

Napoleon pulled up his horse and looked sharply at 
the tall figure which stood before him ; he saw nothing 
in the attitude that was threatening, nothing that 
prompted him to call Roustan, and as the Emperor re- 
garded him, the man quickly brought his cane to a 
“ present arms ” and cried : “ Long live the Emperor ! 

Napoleon said : 

“ Come here ! ” 

“ Yes, sire ! ” 

“ I have seen you before,” said the Emperor quickly. 

“ Yes, sire, frequently !” 

“ Were you not the drum-major of tho First Grenadiers 
of my guard ? ” 

“ I was, sire ! ” 

“ And why are you no longer? ” 

“ My arm, sire. A Biscyen unfortunately smashed it.” 

“ Where was that ? ” 

“ In the Island of Lobau.” 

‘‘ Ah, that was a terrible battle. Aspern! It was the 
grave of many of my bravest men, it was there I lost 
Lannes. You served under the Duke of Montebello, 
my friend,” said the Emperor in a saddened voice, be- 
cause the memories of the battle recalled the death of 
his best friend and always was a subject to him of the 
deepest grief. 

“ Sire, I had the honor of having him behind me at 
Berlin, when, with cane high in the air, I was the first 
to enter, at the head of the Grenadiers, into the capital 
of the Prussians,” 


334 


Napoleon laughed heartily. 

“Yes, yes, I recollect. And I decorated you.” 

“You did, sire, personally.” 

“ On the evening of Jena; you had taken all those 
prisoners.” 

“ A squadron of red dragoons.” 

“ And all by yourself ! ” 

“ With my cane! And then I knew you were in the 
vicinity, sire ! ” 

“ You are a skillful flatterer, certainly; and I remem- 
ber that your name was Violette.” 

“ It is, sire.” 

“ Good,” says the Emperor, pinching Violette’s ear, as 
was his humorous custom. “ Now what can I do for 
you ? ” 

Violette motioned to the young woman in mourning, 
who stood some steps away, and said: 

“ Sire, it is a petition.” 

The Emperor with a movement'of impatience and in 
an irritated tone, said: 

“ What does the woman want ? A pension ? What 
right has she to it ? Is she the widow of one of my 
soldiers?” 

Violette without response signalled to the woman to 
approach, and she trembling, her eyes red with weep- 
ing, sobbed : 

“Sire, I have come to demand justice, mercy.” 

“Justice you shall have. Mercy is different. What 
is it that agitates you so ? ” 

“ Sire, read this, I pray you,” and she extended a 
paper to the Emperor. Napoleon took the document 
and glancing at the signature, he cried : 

“ General Malet ! This is from General Malet ! A 
Jacobin, a conspirator, a traitor. What does he ask of 
me ? I should have him shot for his schemes and his 
infamies, instead of that I have been content to send 
him to Saint Pelagie, and there he will stay.” 

“ If Your Majesty will be good enough to read,” said 
the woman. 

Napoleon rapidly threw his eye over the lines upon 
the paper, grasping the meaning, as he always did, of 
each paragraph almost before he had reached it. It 
was a letter written in humble terms and coming from 
General Malet who had been arrested two years before 
together with a number of other members of the Phila- 
delphes, surprised at one of their meetings by the 


335 


treachery of a member they had trusted. This is a por- 
tion of what Malet’s letter contained : 

“ Sire, after having remained silent in regard to this 
unhappy affair, I now have the honor of writing Your 
Majesty in an attempt to make clear my innocence. I 
have resolved to await patiently the act of justice and 
clemency that will restore my liberty. Two years have 
now passed, sire, and I am still imprisoned as a criminal 
for having repeated, perhaps indiscreetly, but certainly 
innocently, the comments that have brought upon my 
head this terrible suspicion under which I am now 
resting.” 

Here followed in extenso a review of the services 
General Malet had rendered to his country, and the 
petitioner called special attention to the constancy With 
which he clung to Napoleon on the iSth Brumaire. 
Then followed an enumeration of the disgraces Malet 
had suffered, the letter concluding in these words : 

“With these misfortunes, sire, there must come desola- 
tion into the soul of the most courageous, but one 
thought consoles me and sustains my courage: it is that 
the most beautiful attribute of a monarchy is the pos- 
session of a monarch who can redress by a single word 
the unmerited sufferings of so many unfortunates. I 
await that word, sire, which shows your justice and your 
goodness, to obtain my liberty, and as I have the regret 
to think that my services can perhaps never more be ac- 
ceptable to Your Majesty, 1 would ask that you order 
your Minister of War to permit me to retire with my 
family to the Isle of France where I may live unknown. 
I am, with profound respect for Your Majesty, your very 
humble, very obedient servant. General Malet.” 

The Emperor murmured: 

“ Those are very good sentiments, and I should like 
to think that the repentance of General Malet is sincere, 
but if I give him his liberty what will be the result, it 
would set a deplorable example; it will not fail to 
create some suspicion in the army.” The Emperor 
thought for a moment, and turning to the woman, said 
aloud: “All this, madame, is asking permission for 
General Malet to leave Saint Pelagie; very well, I will 
have him put in the hospital for a time, and we will 
see how he gets on there, after that I will look into 
the matter further. Are you satisfied with this, Vio- 
lette ? ” 

Napoleon turned towards the drum-major, as he 


33 ^ 


put the spurs to his horse and started off to overtake 
the Empress, who liad ridden ahead, accompanied by 
Comte de Neipperg. But Violette stopped him with 
another expression: 

Sire, you have accorded mercy, now I ask for justice.” 

Speak ! ” answered Napoleon. 

Well, my Emperor, this woman is a soldier.” 

“You are crazy ! What do you mean ?” 

“Sire, she has make several campaigns with me; she 
is called the pretty sergeant.” 

The Emperor, with a gesture of surprise, answered : 

“ The pretty sergeant ! I know that name. Come 
here, madame : I have seen you before.” 

“ Yes, sire, a long time ago, in Paris, at the Hotel de 
Metz. You then did us a favor ; I told you of Marcel, 
who was a major’s aide at Valence, and with your in- 
fluence he was transferred to Verdun.” 

“ Marcel ! I know that name very well, too. Where 
is he, this major’s aide, Marcel? ” 

“ Sire, he was arrested with General Malet ; he is im- 
prisoned at Ham.” 

“ He conspired against me, did he?” 

“Marcel was never an enemy of Wour Majesty, but 
having discovered that a man whom he believed to be 
as good a Frenchman as he is himself was conspiring to 
restore France to the princes, he denounced this agent 
of the Count of Provence.” 

“ What is the name of this emissary ? Do you know 
it ? ” 

“ Sire, he was Marquis de Louvigne.” 

“ And he was not arrested ? ” 

“He is at liberty, ^ire ; it is Marcel who remains a 
prisoner.” 

“ I shall inquire into what you have told me, madame. 
You know to whom Marcel communicated these proj- 
ects of the agent of the Bourbons?” 

“ To the Minister of Police, sire, to the Duke 
d’Otranto.” 

“ Fouche has said nothing to me of this ; he has not 
told me of any interview with the Marquis de Louvigne, 
or of any plot. It is well, madame ; if these things are 
as you tell me, you may rest assured I shall see justice 
done.” 

The Emperor, agitated and angered, turned his horse ^ 
in the direction taken by the Empress ; Violette saluted 
with his cane ^nd Napoleon rapidly passed out Qf sight. 



‘‘ WHAT AUE YOU DOING IlEUE, MONSIEUKV 


LEAVE 





% 


« 



* 



X 


» 




$ 






« 


I } \ 








I 











I 


y 

- M 

t . 


4 

f 





« 


A . 





■ » r 


A. 


'. I 



337 


The Emperor rode rapidly through the various paths, 
looking in every direction for Marie Louise ; no trace 
of her was to be had until he noticed fresh marks of 
horses’ hoofs in a little bridle path that led amongst 
the bushes lining the broad road ; the shrubbery was 
trampled down as if it had but lately been invaded, 
and the Emperor, startled and anxious, asked himself 
what could be the meaning of this divergence from the 
regular track and whether an accident could have hap- 
pened or whether her horse had become unmanageable 
and dashed into the woods. Thus thinking, the Em- 
peror, followed by Roustan, plunged into the bushes. 

A few yards from the entrance a riderless horse was 
tethered to a tree and the Emperor recognized it as 
belonging to his wife. The branches were here so 
dense as to make the progress of the animal difficult.. 
Napoleon jumped to the ground parting the bushes, 
with his hands and continued his way. A few yards, 
further on he came upon a little clearing that contained 
a rustic kiosque, from which he heard the indistinct 
murmurs of voices and detected the slow words of the 
Empress and the deeper tones of a man. 

Angered in a moment, a thousand thoughts running 
through his mind, a vague suspicion inflaming him, 
Napoleon dashed forward and appeared in the doorway 
of the kiosque, where he found the Empress, Neip- 
perg seated a respectful distance from her talking 
earnestly. 

“What are you doing here, monsieur. Leave! The 
Empress has no wish to remain in tete-^-tete with you 
at this place any longer,” Napoleon exclaimed. 

Neipperg bowed and without a word withdrew. 
Marie Louise looked curiously at her husband and 
laughing, she tranquilly said: 

“ Well, I declare, Napoleon, I believe you are jealous!” 

Neipperg received a handsome present a few days 
later, and with it an order for his return to Austria. 
The day of his departure the Empress under some pre- 
text remained in her room where she wept bitterly, and 
at the moment the equerry stepped into his carriage a 
maid handed him a small box which he opened with: 
emotion. The box contained a ring bearing a little blue: 
enameled flower the counterpart of that he had snatched 
from the fountain basin in the park of Schoenbrunn,. 
one of those little flowers that are known among lovers, 
as the “ forget-me-not.” 


338 


Neipperg placed the ring upon his finger, pressed the 
flower to his heart, and stepping into the carriage he 
threw a discreet kiss in the direction of the room occu- 
pied by the Empress. Marie Louise standing behind 
the curtain followed Neipperg with her eyes so long as 
he remained in sight, and received the kiss he threw her 
and it delighted her heart. 

LX. 

FOUCH^^’S DISGRACE. 

The Emperor had shut himself in his study to make 
himself familiar with the brief concerning the Marquis 
de Louvigne which he caused to be brought to him. 
Cambaceres, the Lord High Chancellor, helped by His 
Majesty’s order in the examination of the facts. 

The words of Rene, the suspicion that haunted him 
of treachery on the part of the Minister of Police served 
to confirm the alarm raised in his mind by the military 
conspiracies. He knew of the action of the Count of 
Provence in London, but Fouche, every time he was 
questioned, replied with such assurance of no danger 
to be apprehended on that side, that he ended by for- 
getting those who, in foreign parts, prepared a restora- 
tion then judged to be impossible as well as unlikely. 

The danger was no longer on the side of the dis- 
contented soldiery who, like Malet, dreamed of the upset- 
ting of regiments or of sudden surprises of the garrisons 
The barrack-room insurrection was unlikely to occur. 
The terms of General Malet’s letter proved that, for the 
moment at least, the Philadelphes had renounced their 
projects. 

There remained, then, the unrecognized royalty, the 
plottings of the Bourbons, the source of intelligence 
maintained in France by the princes, by money, and 
the complicity of England, perhaps in this last the real 
danger was to be found. 

Marquis de Louvigne, an obscure agent and there- 
fore the more to be feared, should have been arrested 
ten times over, but warned no doubt at the actual mo- 
ment he had succeeded in getting back to England. 

Fouche had left him at liberty. There was either 
guilt or stupidity in this, or perliaps he was ignorant of 
Louvigne’s quality as agent of the princes," and then 
Fouche deserved to be dismissed as incapable, or per- 


339 


haps he was aware of the presence in Paris and the de- 
signs of the Marquis de Louvigne, in which case Fouche 
was a traitor and deserved to be punished. 

Irritated by the adventure of the kiosque, annoyed 
at the movement of violence into which he had been 
betrayed and angered by the presence of Neipperg near 
the Empress, the Emperor had sent in haste to the Pre- 
fecture of Police for the brief concerning the Philadel- 
phes and the Marquis de Louvigne. He had given 
the order in so short and impatient a manner that the 
secretary charged with the bringing of the brief, being 
on good terms with M. Dubois, did not fail to inform 
him of the anger of Napoleon. 

Count Dubois, alarmed, entered the carriage himself 
and conveyed the paper personally, giving the document 
to the secretary and waited in great uneasiness in the 
ante-chamber, without causing himself to be announced. 

After about an hour the prefect, hearing nothing more 
and judging the Emperor’s wrath was appeased, asked 
for his carriage and made ready to quit St. Cloud. Just 
as he was getting into his coach, a well-known voice 
hailed him: 

“ Dubois! Dubois! Come here at once ! ” 

It was the Emperor who shouted to him from the 
balcony of the study. 

More alarmed than ever the prefect hastened up the 
stairs. 

As he again passed the ante-chamber and was enter- 
ing the Emperor’s private room, the chamberlain, M. 
de Remusat, barred his passage. 

He told his name, but all in vain. 

“ The Emperor is closeted with the chancellor and my 
orders are to let no one enter,” said the chamberlain in 
a harsh voice. 

“But your orders cannot apply to me,” replied the 
prefect, “since His Majesty has just called me.” 

“ Sir, it is impossible ! ” 

“ Do you mean to tell me that I lie ! ” 

“ No, but you must have fancied it. Who could have 
called you, since I am in waiting and have neither re- 
ceived nor transmitted any such order.” 

“ It was one who serves himself better than he is 
served — the Emperor?” 

M. de Remusat grumbled out some angry words, but 
at that moment the Emperor opened the door of his 
private room and put an end to the squabble. Napoleon 


340 


seemed to be much agitated. He paced up and down 
the room, a large page of paper covered by lines of his 
writing, quite illegible, was spread out on a desk. He 
stopped short before Count Dubois, and said: 

“Dubois? this fellow Fouche is a great rascal.” 

The Prefect of Police, who hated the Duke d’Otranto, 
bowed in silence, neither approving nor contesting the 
qualifications bestowed upon his chief by the Emperor. 

Napoleon, continuing his walking up and down, then 
addressed Cambaceres: 

“Yes, a rascal, a great rascal, but he shall not hum- 
bug me as he has tried to humbug his God with his 
Convention and his Directory, both of which he basely 
betrayed and sold. I can see further than Barras, and 
he won’t find it so easy to get the best of me. Let him 
look out — but he has notes and instructions of mine in 
his p'bssession, — and I want them back.” 

Then turning to Dubois: “ I know,” said he, “ that you 
and Fouche are deadly enemies, and in spite of that I 
have chosen you to go to him and fulfill an important 
mission — very important to him, for it concerns his head.” 

“ Sire,^’ said Dubois, “ I beg Your Majesty to deign to 
excuse me from the honor you propose. You have said 
yourself that the Duke d’Otranto is my enemy. He will 
think I have come to bully him.” 

“ Silence,” answered the Emperor, “ you go to him on 
business of the State, which no one can do so well. 
Listen ! Fouche has had from me during the time he 
has been in office a great many notes and confidential 
communications — I wish to see them ! ” 

■“ Has not Your Majesty asked for them ?” 

“ Over and over again ! And do you know his an- 
swer ? He says he burned them — these papers. He — 
Fouche — burn the papers written by my own hand ! 
Pshaw ! — not he ! ” 

“ Sire, I will execute your order. I will ask him again 
for these notes.” 

“ Yes, I must have them at once. I have positive 
proof that Fouche betrays my trust — that he is in com- 
munication with royalist agents. I intend to put it out 
of his power to injure me. He is no longer Minister of 
Police. Go to his castle at Ferrieres, where he is at 
present, and demand in my name all those papers ! ” 

“ I must have a list of them, sire ! ” 

“ Here it is,” said he, throwing the great page of hier- 
oglyphs to Dubois. 


341 


And if the Duke d’ Otranto refuses ? ” inquired the 
Prefect, persuaded that the crafty minister would never 
give up papers that were his safeguard, those papers re- 
lating to the execution of Duke d’Enghien. 

“ If he refuses,” cried the Emperor angrily, “ you will 
take ten gendarmes with you and bring him to I’Ab- 
baye — I’ll showjiirn a quick way to serve a process! 
Go, my dear Dubois, rid me of the traitor.” 

Consoled by this vigorous act, the Emperor signed 
the decree which named the Duke of Rovigo Minister 
of Police, and his rage was appeased immediately. He 
smilingly dismissed Cambaceres and Dubois. Then he 
went down to the Empress and surprised her in the 
midst of her ladies. To amuse himself, he requested 
her to play to him upon her harp, and was as amiable 
as though nothing had occurred to disturb him. 

Dubois acquitted himself of his mission as best he 
could, but could find nothing to seize at Ferrieres. 
Fouche had put in a safe place all those papers which 
he afterwards sold to Louis XVIII. Those papers, how- 
ever, were not as important as Napoleon supposed. 
They established above all that the execution of the 
Duke d’Enghien had been instigated by Savary, 
afterwards Duke de Rovigo and Fouche’s successor 
in office. 

Fouche, after having protested before Dubois the 
respectful manner in which he received his disgrace and 
announced his departure for Rome, quitted Ferrieres 
secretly and went to hide himself in Paris in a very ob- 
scure little house. 

There, surrounded by confidential agents whom he 
employed as a sort of counter police of his own, he 
watched the Emperor nervously, the Empress and all 
who approached their majesties. 

While he was in power it happened he received some 
very obscure reports, which had interested him much, 
regarding M. de Neipperg, the Austrian equerry placed 
by His Majesty Francis II. about the person of Marie 
Louise. 

Some personal observations had verified the exacti- 
tude of the reports furnished by his agents. 

“ Comte de Neipperg is in love with the Empress,” 
thought he, smiling, and his fox-like visage took an 
extaordinary expression of malice, — “ the thing is plain 
to be seen, too plain, for the Emperor has perceived 
it and has dismissed the equerry.” 


342 


He reflected for a moment, took a pinch of snuff and 
said with another smile : 

“ Does the Empress love him ? That is the question. 
Neipperg is gone, but he’ll come back ! He won’t stay 
long in Vienna, — just long enough to shov/ himself to 
the French Ambassador and then he’ll return double 
quick.” 

He took a second pinch of snuff as he murmured to 
himself : 

“ This gallant at the palace, then I’ll bar his passage, 
and carry him like a faithful dog to the Empress, who 
cannot deny my zeal and hasten to repair this present 
injustice, — or else — for the Empress is powerful and can 
do much with Napoleon, I will warn her — protect her — 
save her — and Marie Louise will be grateful. The loves 
of sovereigns are the safety of misguided servants, such 
as I.” 

And delighted by his perspicacity, Fouche, confident, 
reassured, rubbed his hands, saying to himself : 

“ Only let Neipperg come back in a couple of months, 
and I’ll send you into retirement on your estates. 
Monsieur le Due de Rovigo.” 


LXI. 

THE RETURN. 

Here’s your hat. Duchess,” said Lise, the femme de 
chambre, opening the door of the salon where Catharine 
Lefebvre stood before a long mirror, turning, arranging, 
and admiring a new riding habit the dressmaker had 
just brought to her. 

A hunting party to go to Compiegne had been ar- 
ranged by the Emperor for the next day, and the 
Duchess of Danzig, under the circumstances, had ordered 
a longer petticoat, a waist with brilliant metal buttons, 
and a coquettish hat.- Just then she was complaining 
about the skirt and the waist which she thought were 
much too short: 

“ I can’t get half into these things. Why, I’ll look like 
a fright when I meet their majesties. Lise, Lise, bring 
that hat here ! ” 

She seized the bonnet from the hands of the girl, and, 
throwing it on the table, she stood off at a little distance 
and critically regarded it: 


343 


‘‘That will look horribly on me ! ” 

“ I don’t think so, Ducliess,” the maid ventured. 

“You don’t know anything about it, Lise.” 

“ Well, madame, do you think it is too large ! ” 

“ Too little, it won’t begin to cover my head. I should 
think it was a cap made for the Emperor.” 

“ Do you wish to see the man who brought it. 
Duchess; he is waiting in the ante-chamber?” 

“ Is it the hatmaker himself ? ” 

“ No, madame, it is his clerk.” 

“All right, tell him to come in.” 

And Catharine again turned to the mirror to examine 
her new costume. 

The door opened, but Catharine did not interrupt her 
exercise before the glass; she placed her hat upon her 
head, she approached the mirror and withdrew from it, 
she arranged and rearranged her hair, and all with the 
same impatient movement. Suddenly she gave an ex- 
clamation of surprise, she saw in the mirror the reflec- 
tion of the man’s face Lise had brought into the room, 
the clerk of the halter. Turning quickly, Catharine 
pointed towards the door,and said to her astonished maid : 
“ Leave us.” 

And as Lise disappeared into the corridor closing the 
door behind her, she asked herself: 

“ What can be the matter with the Duchess to-day? 
Why has this hatter’s man caused her such a flurry. 
Oh, probably she has recognized somebody she knew 
when she was a washerwoman, an old acquaintance, I 
suppose. Oh, that’s funny ! ” 

While Lise was thus satisfying her curiosity outside, 
the Duchess hastened to the man and seizing his hand 
said with every trace of anxiety in her voice; 

“ You here ! How did you get here ? ” 

“ I found your hatter in Paris and learned he was 
going to deliver a hat to you. I followed the boy who 
was sent with it, and on the road I gave him a napo- 
leon and he allowed me to take the box and bring it 
here to your room. That’s the way I got here, and I 
believe I am filling my role very well. Now you will see 
that I am safe! ” 

“What terrible imprudence! Don’t you know you 
have some strong enemies at work here ? ” 

‘' I know I have one, the Emperor! ” 

“That is sufficient! What an uproar there would be 
if it were known Comte de Neipperg had returned.” 


344 


^^They need not know it! ” said Neipperg, because it 
was he who, incapable of being longer separated from 
Marie Louise, had dared to return to France. 

“But the spies,” said Catharine in alarm, “don’t you 
know you are observed, that you are being watched and 
followed. The Emperor has had reports concerning 
you and all sorts of communications against you, and if 
you are found here in France you are certainly lost.” 

“ I think I shall stay but a very little while, in two 
days at the latest I shall be on my way back to Vienna.” 

“Well, what did you come for?” 

“ I must see the Empress.” 

“That is simply impossible! Why are you so obsti- 
nate? You are rashly imprudent, and more than that, 
you have no right to intrude upon the Empress and 
subject her to suspicion.” 

This seemed to impress Neipperg for the moment be- 
cause he hesitated as though thinking of some suitable 
response, and then taking Catharine’s arm he said with 
emotion; . 

“ My dear Duchess, don’t ask me any more questions, 
don’t force me to lay open my heart, my sad heart. 
You must understand, you must see that I love the 
Empress, and something tells me she is not entirely 
indifferent.” 

“Foolish man; if the Emperor sees you it will be 
death for you, disgrace and repudiation for her. Stop 
this senseless passion at once.” 

“ I cannot, I can end this love only with my life. But 
I know I can satisfy my love partially by making it 
known to the object of my passion.” 

“ What is your scheme? What new audacity have you 
dreamed 'of?” 

“To have one last interview with Marie Louise; I ask 
you to help me, convey to her an object she confided 
to me.” 

“ A love token ? ” 

“ Yes, this ring,” said Neipperg, taking from his 
pocket a little box which he opened and exposed the 
ring Marie Louise had given him on the day of his 
departure. Passionately he pressed it to his lips, kissed 
it again and again and replaced it in its box, murmur- 
ing: 

“How, can I part with this jewel, the most precious 
object to me on earth, dearer to me than life itself ! !’ 

“ And is it to get me to give this box to the Empress 


345 


that you have left Austria and braved the anger of the 
Emperor, fully justifying his jealousy ? ” 

“There is another reason. Napoleon has noticed the 
Empress no longer has this ring among her possessions, 
I presume some maid has indiscreetly let it out.” 

“ Or Fouche.” 

“ Yes, perhaps Fouche. Marie Louise has pretended 
to have mislaid it and Napoleon has been searching for 
it and says it must be found. Pressing word from the 
Empress reached me at Vienna, and I immediately 
started. This evening Marie Louise must have her 
ring back,’ so that her husband’s suspicions shall be 
ended.” 

“ But if you are surprised here, what explanation will 
you have ? ” 

“ None, I hope I won’t be surprised.” 

“ Who will help you to gain admittance to the palace ? ** 

Neipperg hesitated an instant and looked at Catharine 
suspiciously. 

“ I have only one friend, that is only one good and 
faithful friend in France, it is you, my dear Duchess. 
I hope you will help me in this instance and will save 
me, perhaps, once more.” 

“ No, you needn’t count on me.” 

“ Catharine Lefebvre, do you remember the loth of 
August; do you remember how you saved me, protected 
me from the vengeance of the National Guards when 
they were going to shoot me, how you saved me from 
being killed ? ” 

“We are beyond the loth of August, my dear Comte,’* 
responded Catharine, with dignity. “ I am now Mar- 
chioness Lefebvre, Duchess of Danzig, and I owe it all 
to the Emperor. My husband and his faithful subject, 
the companion of his conflicts and his glory, is Marshal 
of his armies, Duke of his Empire; with him he has 
fought upon every battlefield of Europe. We do not 
wish, the Marshal and I, to aid in any plans of an enemy 
of the Emperor; Napoleon has been our friend; he has 
put us under obligations that are many years old and if 
you remember the loth of August, I have not forgotten 
the night of Jemmapes. Reflect, Monsieur de Neipperg, 
that what you ask of me is impossible. Marshal Lefebvre 
does not know you are not a friend of France. The 
honor of the Emperor, the virtue of the Empress are 
sacred to lis.” 

“Then you abandon me ! ” 


346 


I have counselled you to leave, to return to Vienna 
without seeking to speak to the Empress.” 

“ I can never do it. And what about this ring ? ” 

“You can trust that to me, I .will give it to Her Ma- 
jesty myself, discreetly, I promise you,” and Catharine 
held out her hand to Neipperg who seized it and im- 
pressed a kiss upon it. 

“Oh, thank you, thank you,” he murmured, “and let 
the Empress know I am thinking of her, that I will 
come at her first call, her first signal.” 

“ I will carry out your wishes, Comte, but I believe 
and I hope the Empress will never want to remind you 
of your promise, never wish to demand your devotion.” 

“Don’t be sure of that, Madame la Duchess, the 
ground under the feet of your Emperor is mined.” 

“ The mine will explode without danger to him. His 
throne is surrounded by kneeling kings.” 

“ The prostrate kings will arise, their vengeance will 
be greater for being so long delayed. I know this, my 
dear Duchess; the Court of Vienna has unfolded its secrets 
to me; your Emperor must look out for himself. The 
storm is gathering, the thunder will soon be heard.” 

“ If a storm menaces the Imperial throne, I don’t sup- 
pose it will have its beginning in Vienna. Your Em- 
peror is father-in-law to ours.” 

“ My sovereign has never taken his alliance with 
Napoleon seriously. He has sacrificed his daughter in 
order to preserve his provinces. A marriage dictated 
by politics may be broken by politics.” 

“You have lugubrious presentiments, Neipperg, but 
happily nothing now exists to indicate tliey will ever be 
realized. Don’t depend too much on your imagination. 
Don’t forget that Napoleon is always powerful ; his 
throne is secure; he is surrounded by devoted followers, 
and no pity" will be shown those who conspire against 
him or against the Empress.” 

“ Yes, I know,” answered Neipperg, “ there is Roustan, 
the Mameluke. What would he do to me if I were 
found in the apartments of the Empress ? ” 

“ He would kill you.” 

“ Oh ! oh ! they would not dare to do it. The devil! 
Napoleon looks fine surrounded by his Oriental janis- 
saries to guard himself and his wife. Is his palace the 
harem of a Sultan ?” 

“ I advise you not to trifle with the j-ealousy of 
Napoleon or the scimitar of Roustan.” 


347 


“ I do not ignore the fact that Napoleon has im- 
prisoned Marie Louise, that he locks her up as though 
she were an odalisque, that he forbids any man, even the 
great officers of his household, his best friends, Berthier, 
Cambaceres, Lefebvre, or Caulaincourt to enter the 
apartments of the Empress unless he himself invites and 
accompanies them. I am aware likewise of the blind 
devotion of this Mameluke, who would strike down his 
own father if he found him breaking a rule of the palace, 
but I have taken my precautions, I am inviolable.” 

“ Inviolable ? What do you mean by that?” 

‘‘Without having exactly informed the Emperor of 
Austria the purport of my secret visit to France, I have 
told him I was coming to find the Empress, either at 
Paris, St. Cloud or Compiegne, I talked to him freely, 
he wished to have me tell him whether she were happy, — 
if Napoleon treated her kindly. You know the Emperor 
Francis loved his daughter, and his affection was deeply 
touched when he was called upon to sacrifice the heart 
of Marie Louise to the interests of his monarchy.” 

“ Has it been necessary, then, for the Emperor Francis 
to employ such a mysterious ambassador as yourself to 
learn the sentiments of his daughter; is not the Empress 
at liberty to write to her father ? ” 

Neipperg slightly and scornfully shrugged his 
shoulders. 

“ You forget Savary.” 

“ Yes, but who is Savary ? ” 

“ He has organized a secret office, a dark cabinet, 
everywhere, at Saint Cloud, at the Tuileries, here at 
Compiegne. The Duke of Rovigo is pastmaster in the 
art of opening letters, steaming or loosening tlieir 
seals by means of a knife-blade heated in the fire. The 
Emperor of Austria knows this and he has commissioned 
me to obtain from his daughter important secret infor- 
mation. It is for this that, braving all, I have come in 
disguise to the Palace of Compiegne.” 

“ Neipperg, don’t you know how to be reasonable ? 
Don’t throw yourself away, don’t compromise the Em- 
press.” 

“ Such a thought is very far from my mind, I assure 
you.” 

“ Heed me and leave immediately without trying to 
approach Her Majesty.” 

Neipperg hesitated and Catharine took advantage of 
his apparent uncertainty to insist upon his going. 


348 


“ Even admitting that you are so foolish as to remain, 
how will you get to Her Majesty’s apartments ? Who 
will admit you ? ” 

‘‘Madame de Montebello.” 

“ Her maid of honor! This is really serious! My dear 
Comte, you know since the illness of General Ordener 
that Lefebvre has had command here and incidentally 
performs the duties of grand marshal of the palace. 
Madame de Montebello is under his orders; he is respon- 
sible for the presence of all persons in this^alace who 
have not been summoned. Now, Neipperg, you cer- 
tainly don’t want to place Lefebvre in the position of 
choosing between his love for you and his duty ! ” 

“ Would Lefebvre have me shot ?” 

“Unquestionably, if the Emperor ordered it. If you 
are discovered here he will order it. Go, then, I beseech 
you, in the name of our old friendship, in the name of 
your son Henriot whom the Emperor favors; you don’t 
want to compromise his career for the sake of one happy 
moment, for an interview that is hopeless.” 

“ If you say to me Lefebvre would not take the respon- 
sibility of deciding for me, then I will leave.” 

“ You will take the road for Vienna ? ” 

“Yes,” said Neipperg with a certain embarrassment 
as though he were speaking the words only and not 
with the intention of living up to them. “ I will take 
my carriage that is waiting on the Soissons road; I will 
find the hat clerk and report to him as I promised, and 
then go on to Paris and from there start for Germany. 
Adieu, then, and don’t fail to deliver the ring of Her 
Majesty as you said ” 

At this moment a knock at the door interrupted the 
conversation, and Lise entered. 

“Who is it? Why am I disturbed?” Catharine 
demanded. 

“ It is Monsieur de Remusat, chamberlain of His 
Majesty, and he wishes to speak to the Duchess,” 
answered Lise. 

“The chamberlain? Oh, yes, I know,” said Catharine; 
“ it is probably to talk about the quarrel I had yesterday 
with the Emperor’s sisters. They have gone to the 
Emperor and he thinks I should be read a lesson. Tell 
M. de Remusat to come in,” and then, turning to Neip- 
perg, she added, “ Adieu, monsieur.” 

“ Then, Madame the Duchess is satisfied with the hat,” 
said the ostensible clerk in a loud voice. 


349 


“ Perfectly satisfied.' Present my compliments to yoUf 
employer,” answered the Duchess. 

And she seated herself upon the fauteuil to receive 
with becoming dignity the chamberlain of His Majesty. 

LXII. 

m 

THE FAITH OF THE WASHERWOMAN. 

The order brought by M. de Remusat was ominous. 
The Emperor desired the presence of the Duchess of 
Danzig in his cabinet at once. 

The chamberlain completed his mission and retired; 
the Duchess hurriedly changed her dress, wrapped her- 
self in a long mantle and followed to the Emperor’s 
apartments. 

Napoleon was working in his small office, lighted by 
three candles and a lamp, having with him the valet, 
Constant, who just then was preparing a cup of coffee. 
Two artillery officers in brilliant uniforms, de Lauriston 
and de Brigode, waited on the Emperor. 

Napoleon, in a furious temper, was looking at a num- 
ber of clippings from foreign papers, all of a scandalous 
nature and reflecting in some way upon him or his 
family, paragraphs pretending to give information of 
the private life of the Imperial household; Junot’s at- 
tention to Caroline was criticised and some startling 
stories were told. One of these articles in particular 
irritated Napoleon, because it referred to the disgrace 
of Neipperg, the equerry of the Empress, placed there 
by the Emperor of Austria, and then the article went on 
to insinuate that after the departure of the equerry 
Marie Louise had been low-spirited and languishing, all 
due to Napoleon’s jealousy. 

To these irritating incidents were added the complaints 
of his sisters, who were continually quarrelling among 
themselves, and had tormented him that day with their 
angry words. Elisa became more and more jealous of 
Caroline because she had been made a Queen, and that 
very afternoon the two had engaged in a wordy alter- 
cation that began in French and ended in a Corsican 
patois, accompanied by an exuberance of violent ges- 
tures and a selection of vulgar expressions peculiar to 
the Corsican purlieus. In the midst of the dispute Na- 
poleon attempted to separate them, but as they were 
deaf to his rebuke and indifferent to his wishes, and he 


350 


did not possess the physical strength of putting them 
bodily out of the room, he seized the coal tongs from 
tiie great chimney place and threatened to knock them 
botii senseless if they did not cease. It was a comical 
and mortifying scene, recalling in too-faithful accuracy 
the altercations in which the family had participated 
duriffg their poverty-stricken days at Marseilles. 

It may, therefore, be understood, the Marchioness 
Lefebvre, against whom the Queen of Naples and the 
Grand Duchess of Piombino had entered a formal and 
aggravating protest to the Emperor, was summoned to 
an audience that promised to be everything else than 
amiable. But she was provided with ample courage and 
had a spirit confident in -its own resources, so she was 
prepared to hold her own with the redoubtable adver- 
sary who had summoned her. 

To strengthen heh defense still -more, a happy 
thought occurred at the last moment, and opening her 
jewel box wherein she kept her most precious posses- 
sions, she took from it a folded paper, yellow with age, 
creased and torn and giving evidence of having been 
concealed in the portfolio for many years. She care- 
fully pushed the paper into her corset, and hastening 
down through the long corridors of the palace, passing 
the vestibules where were sleeping the officers of the 
household, she reached the door of the Imperial 
cabinet. 

Roustan, the faithful Mameluke, guarded the en- 
trance, and an aide-de-camp announced the Duchess* to 
His Majesty. 

Catharine Lefebvre, with a brave, stately reverence, 
saluted the Emperor as she entered, and hesitated in 
silence for a moment until he had concluded his inter- 
view with the Minister of Finance and that functionary 
had withdrawn. The Emperor turned over the papers 
on the desk and nothing was heard but the regular tick 
of the elaborate clock on the mantel and the soft crackle 
of the fire in the chimney. 

Suddenly Napoleon looked up from his papers, and 
said, roughly: 

“Well, Marchioness, I am having some delightful 
trouble on your account. What were you up to yester- 
day ? I hear nothing all the time but reports of your 
violent language, of your absurd expressions, and all 
the newspapers of Europe are quoting them to show 
that my Court is little better than a market-place. 


351 


There is no use telling me you have been provoked. 
I know all about that, but there is no excuse for using 
such language in ijiy Court; if you don’t know how to 
talk you had better, learn; I am out of patience with 
this ignorance around me. I should think when 
Lefebvre acquired the baton of a marshal he might 
have given up some of the associatipns he formed as a 
sergeant.” 

Napoleon stopped talking long enough to go to the 
fire and pour from the little pot that was boiling there 
a small cup of coffee whose delicious odor spread 
through the room. Catharine remained calm, indiffer- 
ent and waiting. Swallowing the steaming drink at a 
single gulp, Napoleon went on : 

Your position here at Court is simply absurd; you 
must get out: you owe it to the reputation of the rest of 
us; you have made no efforts to improve your personality 
with the changes that have taken place in your fortune. 
If you are divorced I’ll promise you that there shall be 
■no change in your rank or your prerogatives. I have 
already told this to Lefebvre, did he say anything to 
you about it ? ” 

“Yes, sire; Lefebvre told me all about it.” 

“ Well, w'hat did you say to him ?” 

“I? I laughed at him.” 

“ What do you mean by such language ? What did 
Lefebvre do? Didn’t he tell you you mmst agree to it?” 

“ Oh, he just hugged me and told me to forget what 
you said.” 

“ How dare you reply so to me, your Emperor and 
your master ! ” 

“ Sire, you are our master, our Emperor, that’s true. 
You can dispose of us as you see fit; can end our exist- 
ence, I presume, Lefebvre and me; you can do all that. 
You are the Emperor and by simply signing your name 
you can throw 500,000 men across the Danube or Vis- 
tula, who are ready to be killed for you, but you can’t 
come in between Lefebvre and me ; you can’t sepa- 
rate us; your power stops right there, and if you wish 
to go into any such conflict as that you’ll get the worst 
of it.” 

“ You believe that, do you ? But, madame, you know 
you have a tongue that is simply uncontrollable and 
you make a scandalous exhibition in my Court altogether 
too frequently. Now take that affair yesterday, didn’t 
you insult the Queen of Naples and the Grand Duchess 


352 


of Piombino? Won’t you respect the Emperor in’ the 
persons of members of his family? Why should I tol- 
erate such scenes, — these outrages tli^t are more fitted 
to a dance-hall ? ” 

“ Sire, you have been misinformed; I simply defended 
myself and resented the insults that were heaped upon 
me. Your sisters outrageously insulted the army.” 

Napoleon, at one bound jumped from his chair, pale' 
with anger, and shouted out at the top of his voice : 

“ The army ! What is that you say ? Who has in- 
sulted the army ? ” 

“ Your sisters insulted it, in my person ! ” 

“ I don’t understand what you mean.” 

“ Sire, Your Majesty’s sisters reproached me because I 
was one of the heroic soldiers of Sambre-et-Meuse, 
and you know that their glory has seldom been equalled, 
— never surpassed.” 

“ That is true, but how were you among them ? ” 

“ I was a vivandiere, sire, in the^Thirteenth Regiment. 
I accompanied Lefebvre.” 

“You were through that campaign ?’’ exclaimed the 
Emperor, at once becoming interested. 

“Yes, sire. Verdun, Jemmapes, Altenkirchen. I 
served in the Army of the North, the Army of the Moselle, 
the Army of the Rhine, the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse. 
I was in eighteen campaigns, and I was mentioned in 
the order of the day after the engagement at Alten- 
kirchen.” 

“ In the order of the day, you ! Impossible.” 

“Yesj sire, for bravery, in the same citation that 
enumerated the heroes of the army, with Hoche, Jour- 
dan, Lefebvre.” 

“ But this is great, magnificent,” said the Emperor 
smiling. “ Why the devil didn’t Lefebvre tell me about 
it.” 

“ What would have been the good, sire ! Didn’t he 
get glory and honors enough for two? Excepting for this 
rumpus I should never have spoken of it, nor of my 
wound.” 

“ You were wounded ? ” 

“ Yes, by a bayonet, at Fleurus, it went through my 
arm near the shoulder.” 

“ Let me see. Marchioness, I cannot believe that they 
would have pierced such a pretty arm.” 

And Napoleon, taking Catharine’s hand in his own, 
pushed back her sleeve and kissed the scar that marked 


353 


the savage blow from an Austrian bayonet. He looked 
into her eyes and said: 

“Your skin is like satin, Duchess, permit me 
again.” 

“ Oh, there is only one wound,” she said laughing, 
and then with a half amused and half malicious expres- 
sion she continued; “This is not the first time, sire, you 
have told me my skin was like satin.” 

“I! You say I have already told you that, I never 
have been near enough to you,” Napoleon responded, 
still permitting his hand to wander softly over Catha- 
rine’s arm. 

“ Yes, sire. It was a long time ago, very long ago. It 
was on a certain loth of August, oh, I was just engaged 
to Lefebvre then, and I went to see you one morning in 
a little room of tlie Hotel de Metz on the Rue du Mail, 
where you were living then.” 

“That’s right, on the second floor.” 

“ No, on the third floor.” 

“ What the devil were you doing in the room of an 
artillery officer?” 

“ Don’t you know ? I came to bring home your wash- 
ing and you were sadly in need of it, and if you had had 
your way, I never would have returned as I had come; 
you were thinking of war, then; why when I went in 
you had your nose down in a geography and you kept 
it there for a long time, but you were aroused from 
it altogether too quickly. Then I married Lefebvre, I 
didn’t love him at that time, I adore him now. If you 
had declared yourself then, I don’t know but what I 
might have preferred you to him, as I told you. But, 
pshaw, that seems like the history of another world — we 
won’t think of it any more, sire.” 

. Napoleon looked at the Duchess attentively, and he 
said: 

“ What were you then ? ” 

“ A washerwoman, and that’s what your sisters re- 
proach me with.” 

“A washerwoman, a washerwoman! It appears as 
though you have followed every calling. A cantiniere 
may go, but a washerwoman — I didn’t suppose you were 
following that for a living.” 

“ Sire, it was the only way I could make an honest 
living. Did you suppose for a moment I was doing 
your washing j'ust to fill in my time? I had a hard 
enough struggle with the bills I couldn’t collect; why, 


354 


would you believe it, right here in your own palace there 
is a military officer who owes me to this day for wash- 
ing I did for him then.” 

“Give me your account against him, and I will make 
him pay it,” said Napoleon. 

“But I don’t want to give the account to Your 
Majesty.” 

“ That’s foolish. 

“ No, it is reasonable; I don’t wish to demand what is 
due me, and yet my debtor has got a very good position 
at this moment,” and putting her hand into her corsage, 
Catharine withdrew the little yellow paper which she 
had placed there when the Chamberlain summoned her; 
“and he not only owes me this debt, but I have a letter 
from him acknowledging it and asking me to wait 

while for the money. This is what he has written: ‘ I 
have just this moment received your note and my present 
means are insufficient for me to supply the wants of my 
mother and my brothers and sisters, who are refugees 
at Marseilles. When I shall have been restored to my 
grade as captain of artillery ’ ” 

Napoleon to^k the letter from her hand and as he 
looked over it, visibly and profoundly affected, he 
said:. 

“ Then it was I ! All my youth returns to me with this 
torn paper and this faded writing. Yes, I was poor and 
unknown; I was devoured with ambition and restless 
under the restraints that were placed upon me. I was 
alone, without friends, without credit, without any one 
who believed in me — and you had confidence. A washer- 
woman! Oh, I remember it all very well; you were 
good, you were thoughtful, perhaps you alone saw into 
the future and believed the obscure artillery officer would 
not always remain in the third-floor room of a furnished 
hotel, or that you would always look after his linen; you 
had compassion for his loneliness and for his poverty. 
The Emperor will never forget it.” 

Napoleon was affected by uncontrolled emotion; his 
anger had passed away; he looked with almost religious 
reverence upon this letter; he put his hand to his brow 
as though trying to recall another niemory of those 
years, and he said: 

“ Now, I remember, your laundry was in the Rue des 
Orties; I often went there, and I know just exactly how 
it looked. There was the large washroom with the stairs 
going up out of it, the tables, the tubs, the big chimney. 


355 


The door of your room was to the left, the entrance door 
to the right. It was a big square room with a lot of 
ropes across it, the clothes hanging up to dry. But let 
me see, what did they call you then, what was your name 
before you were married ? ” 

“Catharine, Catharine Upscher.” 

“No, that was not it, you must have had another 
name. Let me see, some nickname.” 

“ I did, they called me Sans-Gene.” 

“ Ah, yes, that’s it, and you have kept that name here 
at Court.” 

“ Yes, sire, and on the battlefield also! ” 

“You are right 1 you did well to defend your vivan- 
diere skirts against the insolence of my Court, and it is 
I, Catharine Sans-Gene, who will make every one here 
respect you. You know to-morrow I give a hunting 
party in honor of the Prince of Bavaria, before all my 
Court, before my sisters, I shall speak to you in such a 
way that no one ever will again dare to reproach you with 
your humble origin or your poverty; you shall partake 
of the honors with Murat, with Ney, and, by God, with 
me 1 But now, before you go, I think it is fitting the 
Emperor should pay the debts of the artiller)^ captain. 
How much do 1 owe you, Madame Sans-Gene ? ” and the 
Emperor put his hand in his pocket for his purse. 

“ Three napoleons, sire,” replied the Marchioness, 
holding out her hand. 

“ I think you charge me a little high,” said Napoleon. 

“There is the account, sire.” 

“ My linen could not have been as bad as that.” 

“ Much worse — and then there’s the interest.” 

“True, I had forgotten that; well, I will pay it off;” 
the Emperor had found nothing in his trousers pockets, 
and his hand returned empty from his vest and coat, 
and laughingly, he said: 

“I declare, I am unfortunate, I have not got three 
napoleons about me.” 

“Very well, sire, I will once more give you time.” 

“ Many thanks. Now, I suppose you will want to go, 
it is very late; I declare there is eleven o’clock striking, 
and everybody in the palace is asleep, we should 
be in our beds, too. I will send Roustan with you to 
your apartments.” 

“Oh, sire, I am not afraid; it would be impossible for 
any one we do not know to get into the palace at night.” 

“ That’s a fact, but these corridors are so long and so 


dark, I think you had better have an escort and a light, 
and the Emperor raising his voice called out “ Roustan! ” 

The door opened and the faithful Mameluke appeared. 

“Show Madame the Duchess to her apartments; 
they are at the other end of the palace; take a light 
with you.’' 

Roustan stepping back into the adjoining room, re- 
turned with a candelabra and went through the door 
opening from the cabinet on to the grand gallery; he took 
a few steps forward, holding the entrance open that the 
Duchess might follow him, when just as she was about 
to do so, Roustan came again into the cabinet and with 
the habitual Oriental calmness and expression of gravity, 
he said: 

“ Sire, some one is in the gallery. A man with a white 
coat. He has gone in the direction of the Empress’s 
apartments.” 


LXIII. 

“ YOU LIE, MONSIEUR.** 

When Roustan announced the presence of a man in 
the corrider all Napoleon’s vanished anger returned; he 
was pale with the rage that filled his heart, speechless 
with the thoughts that rushed through his brain. 

“ A white coat,” the Mameluke had said. 

Who could it be among those wearing the Austrian 
uniform that would be introduced in this manner at 
night, as a thief, in the portion .of the palace forbidden 
to every one. Was it the audacious equerry who had 
pursued the Empress with his attentions. The name 
of Neipperg flashed into the Emperor’s mind, but he 
said half aloud : 

“ It is impossible. Neipperg is at Vienna. I am sus- 
picious without reason. Have I become a fool that I 
should think always of the Austrian? No, the white 
coat that attracted Roustan is worn by some old 
Chouan, an accomplice of Cadonal, that Marquis of 
Louvigne, perhaps sent here by Fouche. He has slipped 
into the palace, probably to surprise me in my sleep, 
to assassinate me, but I will seize him.” 

With the promptitude that ever distinguished him in 
cases of emergency or sudden surprise, Napoleon blew 
out the candles that stood upon his desk and directed 


357 


Roustan to extinguish the lamp and stand behind the 
door of the bedroom ready to respond at the first call. 

The Imperial cabinet was in darkness save for the 
dying embers in the fireplace, whose weak sparks threw 
out only sufficient glimmer to indicate the shadowy 
outlines of the door opening on to the gallery. Napo- 
leon stepped lightly to Catharine’s side and taking her 
hand whispered : 

“ Be quiet ! ” 

The marchioness trembled with fear and anguish at 
the terrible result she expected from this incident of 
which she alone held the secret, for she had no doubt it 
was Neipperg who had been seen by Roustan. 

“The fool hasnt kept his promise,” she thought; “he 
is determined to see the Empress, and he is lost.” 

Prostrate, her blood driven back from her heart, she 
leant upon the sofa, while Napoleon anxious but calm 
and thorough ly>master of himself listened for the ap- 
proach of one he believed to be a murderous royalist 

Some one came quietly down the corridor walking 
upon tip toes and making hardly an impression upon 
the yielding carpet. Quickly and cautiously the figure 
advanced and through the open door of the cabinet the 
form of a woman was seen. She came nearer and 
nearer, stopping every few steps to listen, her hands 
were extended before her as though feeling the way 
and she clutched each piece of furniture as she 
came to it as though it were an anchorage in her 
journey. 

“ Madame de Montebello ! ” murmured the Marchio- 
ness as she recognized the Lady of Honor and at the 
same instant Napoleon squeezed her hand so fiercely as 
almost to cause her to cry aloud. The Emperor gazed 
eagerly after the woman, and her presence in the cor- 
ridor, the secrecy of her movements, the manner in 
which she looked everywhere than towards the cabinet 
indicated she had no suspicion the Emperor was in his 
room or that any one was there. The direction she was 
taking indicated her object to reach the Empress’s 
apartment; at the moment she came opposite where her 
watchers were concealed, she encountered a man who 
stepped from the deeper shadow of a pillar and said 
under his breath: 

“Shall I pass in. Duchess?” 

But Napoleon sprang forward and seizing the man by 
the throat, shouted; 


358 


" Roustan ! ” 

And the Mameluke followed with a brilliant lamp in 
his hand. 

“ Neipperg! So it is him! ” exclaimed Napoleon al- 
most choked with anger and tightening his grasp upon 
the unhappy Comte. 

A cry from the woman was the only reply to Napo- 
leon’s words; she was surprised as she was about to put 
the key in the lock of the door admitting her to the 
Empress. In his anger, Napoleon had forgotten her, 
but now he said to the Mameluke: 

“ Roustan, seize that woman and hold her until I call 
you again. And now as to you, monsieur,” said Napo- 
leon, speaking to Neipperg, what are you doing in my 
palace at night ? Who let you in as though )'ou were a 
thief ? ” 

Neipperg, very pale but calm, answered: 

Sire, I have come from Vienna ! ” 

** For what purpose ? ” 

“ On the order of my sovereign.” 

“ To do what ? ” 

“ To carry out a confidential mission with Her Majesty 
the Empress, also my sovereign.” 

“Ah! and do ambassadors fulfill their missions at 
midnight? That is not the popular hour for presenting 
letters.” 

“ It is the hour indicated by my sovereign.” 

“ The Empress has given you a rendezvous at mid- 
night in her bedroom ! ” 

“ At midnight. Her Majesty the Empress told me she 
would have a response I asked from her in the name of 
the Emperor of Austria, my master.” 

“ The Empress has not seen you to make any such 
engagement. You lie, monsieur.” 

“ Sire,” answered Neipperg, trembling beneath the 
insult, “ I am an Austrian general, I have the rank of a 
Minister Plenipotentiary. I am. here representing my 
sovereign to an Archduchess of Austria. You have in- 
sulted me in your own palace where I am not able to 
respond. Sire, it is cowardly.” 

“You miserable hound!” cried the Emperor, made 
more furious by the Comte’s impertinence in daring to 
use such language, and grasping Neipperg again he 
said: “ You have come here at night, in my house, as an 
assassin, you are not fit to wear the noble insignia of 
your rank.” 





“ IIEKE IS A MAN, GENTEEMEN, WHO HAS DRAWN HIS SWORD ON ME 








359 


And suiting the action to the menace Napoleon, with 
impulsive movement, tore the buttons from Neipperg’s 
uniform. Carried away by shame and rage, Neipperg’s 
hand closed around the hilt of his sword, and as the 
blade leaped from the scabbard, he shouted: 

“ Damn you ! ” 

Catharine saw the movement and at one bound threw 
herself before the Emperor, shielding him from attack 
and calling loudly: 

“ Roustan, come here ! ” 

The words had hardly left her lips when Roustan ran 
from the cabinet aftd flung Neipperg to the floor where 
he lay powerless beneath the iron grip of the slave. 
Three other Mamelukes, aroused by the noise, hastened 
from their rooms, and Napoleon, opening another door 
on the gallery, called: 

“ Monsieur de Lauriston ! Monsieur de Brigode ! 
Monsieur de Remusat ! Come, all of you ! ” 

In a few moments the chamberlains and the aides-de- 
camp of the day were at the scene. 

“ Here is a man, gentlemen, who has drawn his sword, 
on me. Monsieur de Brigode take his sword. Monsieur 
de Lauriston, I shall hold you responsible for his safe 
keeping.” 

Monsieur de Brigode took the sword, and Monsieur 
de Lauriston, laying his hand on Neipperg’s shoulder, 
said: 

“ In the name of the Emperor I arrest you,” and then, 
turning to Napoleon, he asked: “Where shall I take 
him, sire?” 

“ Guard Monsieur de Neipperg in the salon until Due 
de Rovigo arrives; he will take measures to have a court- 
martial convened within an hour, that will determine the 
identity of the prisoner, and, after learning of the at- 
tempt upon my person, it will render a verdict. At day- 
break I want all to be over.” 

LXIV. 

THE DEBT OF THE DUCHESS. 

The marchioness was filled with horror at the terrible 
sentence pronounded by Napoleon and she sought 
vainly through her mind for some means of saving the 
Comte. To intercede with the Emperor was folly, — 
it would be useless, Neipperg had been condemned 


360 


and there was nothing to stay the vengeance of Napo- 
leon. The all-powerful sovereign would punish the 
outrage committed on the husband. 

Through Catharine’s fevered brain there ran twenty 
projects to protect the unfortunate Neipperg, each one 
impossible, each more impracticable than the other. 
She was discouraged, disheartened when the door 
opened and Lefebvre entered. He was in full uniform; 
his face wore a serious expression; it was apparent that 
the news of the arrest of Neipperg, which had been 
brought to him by an aide, had paired him. 

“You know,’' he said to his wife. 

“ Everything ! The unhappy man has sacrificed him- 
self. Is there any possible way you can think of to 
persuade the Emperor to stop the execution ? ” 

“ None. The Emperor has spoken. In my position 
as Marshal of the Palace, it will unfortunately fall to 
me to preside at the court-martial that will pass upon 
the Comte’s guilt. 

“ And shall you obey ? ” 

“ Is it for me to disobey the Emperor? ” 

“You know Comte de Neipperg saved my life at 
Jemmapes, where I, too, would have been shot but for 
him and without his intercession I certainly would not 
be here now.” 

“ Yes, we have contracted a debt to the Comte, but I 
remember he would have been killed also but for you 
on the morning of the loth of August. That squares 
accounts. Thunder ! and I can do nothing for him, my 
duty will not permit me. There are moments when it is 
painful to live up to one’s duty, and the obedience of 
discipline is difficult. I shall execute the order of the 
Emperor but he must select some one else to carry it 
out.” 

“ But I, I am not Marshal of the Palace; I have no 
duties to fulfill, no orders to execute; I am a woman; 
I pity the unfortunate man. You speak of a debt, Le- 
febvre; it is the cantiniere who owes it; the marchioness 
will pay it.” 

“ What shall you do ? ” 

“The impossible! See here, Lefebvre, who is it that 
can reach the Empress?” 

“At present, no one. Those orders are imperative.” 

“What, no means of getting a word to her! One 
word! ” 

“ None! I alone am authorized, to approach the door 


36 i 


of HerMajesiv i ctpwi tments, and then only for the pur- 
pose of assuring myself that the sentinels are at their 
post.” 

“That is sufficient. You must help me, Lefebvre,” 
said Catharine enthusiastically. 

“ How can I ? ” 

“ I will tell you. You can approach closely to the 
door of her room.” 

“ Easily.” 

“You can say something before the door; she will 
recognize your voice, and the presence of a marshal 
there in the night will attract her attention; she will 
seek to discover what it means; she will probably send 
out a maid. You understand.” 

“ Partly, and why should I make this attempt to at- 
tract her attention; what is it 37’ou want me to do, then ? ” 

“ Say, in a loud voice to the sentinel, ‘ Have you seen 
any one coming from the Empress’s room, some person 
who is bringing a letter to the Emperor of Austria?’ 
If you utter the name of the Emperor of Austria suffi- 
ciently loud she will htear it.” 

“ I do not understand what you are trying to do, ex- 
plain it to me.” 

“It is useless to waste the time now; minutes are 
hours under the circumstances; but go, go quickly and 
do as I ask you.” , 

And as Lefebvre hesitated, wondering in his mind 
what this mission was given him by his wife, Catharine 
repeated: “ Remember, pronounce the name of the Em- 
peror of Austria loud enough to be heard.” 

Lefebvre hastened down the galleries leading to the 
apartments of Marie Louise, and the Marchioness 
slipped out into the corridors to find some one from 
whom she could gather information as to the present 
disposition of the prisoner. She sought the palace 
officials and the aides-de-camp, asking them all where 
Neipperg had been taken, but failed to learn anything 
concerning the unhappy man. She had gone down as far 
as the entrance to the Emperor’s cabinet, when the door 
opened and Monsieur de Lauriston appeared, saying: 

“ What can be the matter with the Minister of Police; 
why has he not yet reached here? He must know what 
has happened.” 

“The Minister of Police knows nothing,” said a 
squeaking sarcastic voice, which Catharine recognized, 
and came forward, saying: 


3^2 

“ Ah, Monsieur Fouche, have you dropped down 
from Heaven ! ” 

“ Most people suppose me to be anchored in the other 
place,” replied the former Minister of Police. “What 
can I do for you ?” 

“You can do me an enormous service.” 

“And what is it? You know I have always had a 
deep affection for you, I may say we are old friends. 
You knew me when I walked the streets of Paris with 
no other fortune than ambition and revolutionary senti- 
ments; I have seen you a washerwoman and now I see 
you a Duchess.” 

“And I have seen you Minister of Police.” 

■ “ I was, and I shall be there again,” answered Fouche 
with a satirical smile, “but how can I be of service to 
you just now, my dear Duchess ?” 

“ You know what has happened to Monsieur de Neip- 
perg ? ” 

“ Yes, they are only waiting for Savary to shoot him.” 

“ Monsieur de Neipperg must not be killed. Due, I 
count upon you to help me save him.” 

“ On me! and why the devil should you count on me? 
Monsieur de Neipperg is an Austrian and a declared 
enemy of the Emperor; he is not my friend, he is no 
relation, I do not see at all why I should concern myself 
with him, a criminal, a fool who throws himself in the 
arms of a Mameluke because he wants to get a pretty 
woman.” 

“ My dear Fouche, you do not know ” 

“ Then why should I learn ? Prove to me that I have 
any interest in wasting my time with M. de Neipperg, 
and, of course, I will change my views and place myself 
at your disposal.” 

The sudden arrest of Neipperg had, in fact, rather 
interfered with the projects of Fouche, who had counted 
on making a little capital by surprising the foolish 
equerry and delivering him up to the Emperor. The 
words of the Duchess revived the hope that had been 
dashed that he might make capital out of the scandalous 
infamy. “And what interest have you, my dear Duchess?” 
Fouche demanded, in an insinuating voice, “to ask me 
to concern myself with Monsieur de Neipperg?” 

“^A considerable interest. You wish to be restored 
to your position as Minister of Police ? ” 

“ Oh, entirely for the good of the State and the safety 
of the Emperor.” 


3^3 

‘‘Very well, the opportunity is offered you. Save M. 
de Neipperg ” 

“ And expose myself to being exiled by His Majesty? ” 

“ Not at all! Understand me now; there is not the 
slightest intrigue between the Empress and Monsieur 
de Neipperg.” 

“ Not even a little intrigue ? ” 

“ Do you doubt me ’ 

“ Never! Then Monsieur de Neipperg can establish 
his innocence.” 

“ He cannot if left to himself.” 

“ Who can ? ” 

“ The Empress ! ” 

“ That is certainly reasonable; she is the most inter- 
ested. Well, what can we do about it ? ” 

“ If you can delay this court-martial, put off the exe- 
cution, keep Savary out of the way, if the Empress can 
be seen, we can save him.” 

“ And then ? ” 

“The Empress when she knows it is due to you that 
this object has been gained she will use her influence 
with the Emperor to have you reinstated; she can easily 
protest against the injustice you have been the victim 
of, and persuade Napoleon to re.store you to the func- 
tions from which you were removed.” 

“ By Heavens, you have almost convinced me, Duch- 
ess,” said Fouche, opening his snuff-box, and taking a 
large pinch as was his custom when some weighty 
thought was occupying his mind. “ That is perfectly 
reasonable, and I will try to save this poor Monsieur de 
Neipperg from Savary.” 

“ What will you do ? ” 

“ I shall see the Emperor.” 

At this moment Constant, the valet of the Emperor, 
emerged from the cabinet hastening to the Duke of 
Rovigo with the information that his master awaited 
him impatiently. 

“ Will you say to His Majesty I am here, my good 
Constant,” said Fouch6 advancing and speaking in his 
most agreeable and persuasive voice, “ will you also 
kindly say to His Majesty that I ask a moment’s audi- 
ence.” 

Constant, who was under many obligations to the ex- 
Minister, bowed in response and returned to convey the 
word to Napoleon. 

“ If Savary puts off his coming ten minutes longer, 


3^4 


and I can speak to the Emperor, Monsieur de Neipperg 
will be out of danger,” said Fouche. 

‘‘ What argument shall you use ? ” 

“I shall represent to His Majesty that it will be im- 
possible to carry out this execution; it will be without 
legal procedure, almost without proper judgment, a man 
surprised at night in the palace — why, it will be received 
with ridicule, and it will compromise the Empress out- 
rageously. It will irritate the Austrian Court, and 
it will justify at the same time all the scandalous stories 
that have been published concerning the pretended 
intimacy of Monsieur de Neipperg and Marie Louise.” 

“But how will you explain Neipperg’s presence in 
the palace?” 

“ A conspiracy ! ” 

“ But it will be necessary that you shall show the 
existence of one.” 

“Well, that is not difficult, a good Minister of Police 
always has two or three in reserve. I have in hand the 
elements of two very pretty plots, mixed up with the 
republicans, Lahorie, Malet, the Philadelphes, but, of 
course, they would not do with the Comte de Neipperg, 
an Austrian general and a most aristocratic diplomat. We 
will have to embroil him with the Jacobins. No, I guess 
it would be preferable to have him in a royalist scheme 
with the Comte de Provence.” 

“ But a conspiracy is very serious, suppose it should 
be proven ? ” 

“ Well, but when there is no conspiracy, how can it 
be proven, after all ? ” said Fouche with a skeptical smile. 
“ The Emperor will be curious and he will keep the man 
alive to discover the proofs, and all that will gain time; 
we certainly have no choice of means; we must make use 
of what is nearest at hand. Ah, here is Constant coming 
back. Will His Majesty receive me ? ” 

“ His Majesty replies that he will receive the Duke 
d’Otranto after he has seen the Duke of Rovigo.” 

Fouche made a violent gesture of disappointment and 
chagrin, and exclaimed: 

“ His Majesty couldn’t have said that ! 

“ His Majesty did say: * I am in no hurry to receive 
the Duke d’Otranto, it is probably some story of a con- 
spiracy he wants to tell me, what concerns me first is to 
finish with Monsieur de Neipperg.’ And so, Duke, I am 
going to summon the Duke of Rovigo.” 

But before Constant could leave the palace, Savary 


3^5 


had entered excited and out of breath, and rushing 
down the gallery, he met Fouche, stopping long enough 
to ask: 

“ What is it ? Do you know why the Emperor has called 
me up in the middle of the night, you, who pretend to 
know everything ! Have you been filling His Majesty’s 
brain with some of your wierd stories about a military 
conspiracy ? ” 

“ Not at all,” replied Fouche in his indifferent manner, 
‘‘His Majesty is concerned with Monsieur de Neipperg, 
you know that former equerry.” 

“ Monsieur de Neipperg! Why he is resting in peace 
in Vienna; hunting, fishing, playing the flute. I have 
just received a report detailing all his movements, 
and it tells me he is now living in the environs of 
Vienna.” 

“ Ah, my dear successor, communicate that to the 
Emperor and he will be gratified and will compli- 
ment you upon the thoroughness of your infor- 
mation.” 

“Oh, there is no great merit in it; I shall simply 
go in and announce that Monsieur de Neipperg is at 
Vienna; that is all.” 

And Savary, with proud confidence entered the Em- 
peror’s cabinet. 

“Well, my little conspiracy scheme is knocked out,” 
said Fouche to the Marchioness; “ I must find something 
else.” 

“Yes; think of something, quick!” 

“ I have another expedient, not very good, but we 
must try it Does Monsieur de Neipperg know your 
writing? Good; now write what I tell you to.” 

Fouche taking a paper and a pencil dictated to Catha- 
rine who wrote with considerable difficulty, owing to 
the inconveniences of the moment, two lines in which 
she told Neipperg to stand by the window which he 
was to open quietly so as not to excite the attention of 
his guards. 

“Now send him this paper,” said Fouche, “and ex- 
plain to the guard it is simply for Neipperg to write to 
his mother before he is shot, they certainly will not re- 
fuse that.” 

The Marchioness sought Monsieur de Lauriston, who 
acceded to the request and undertook to get the paper 
to the Comte without delay. 

Fouche, quietly and without attracting attention, 


366 


stepped aside and quickly disappeared down the corri- 
dor. The Marchioness said in a loud voice: 

“ M. de Brigode, will you have the goodness to request 
the Emperor’s permission for me to retire, or ask him if 
he wishes me to remain within call.” 

“ The Emperor wishes to speak with you,” Napoleon 
himself replied. 

“Sire, I am at your orders,” Catharine responded 
rather startled at the unexpected voice of the Emperor 
whom she believed to be in his cabinet. 

“ You understand this time, I hope,” said Napoleon to 
Savary as the Emperor and minister parted at the 
door and the Marchioness passed through the cabinet. 
Don’t make your usual mistakes. Go ! ” 

“ Sire, a grave shall be dug in the forest and within 
three hours, that is at sunrise, the culprit shall be 
buried and no mark left to indicate where he lies,” the 
Duke of Rovigo answered saluting and withdrawing. 

“ Now we two, said the Emperor dryly as he closed 
the door behind Catharine and looked at her in his 
earnest manner, “ or rather I should say we three, for 
Madame de Montebello will join us, we can talk by our- 
selves.” 

The Lady of Honor was sobbing in the fauteuil, her 
face buried in her hands, the picture of despair and lost 
hope. Napoleon seating himself so he could watch 
every change of expression on the part of the ladies, 
rapidly interrogated them in his own imperative way. 
He asked one question after another with confusing 
rapidity, striving to detect them in a misstatement or 
trap them in an avowal or disclosure. 

Madame de Montebello had introduced Neipperg to 
the Palace and was conducting him to the Empress’s 
apartments ; Marchioness Lefebvre had talked with 
Neipperg, for during his stay in France the comte had 
frequently visited at Lefebvre’s home, in fact, there had 
been rumor of an intrigue between Catharine and the 
Comte. Napoleon used every argument, brought up 
every incident he could recall to unearth the secret he 
believed existed yet feared to learn, but uncertainty was 
torture and the dread of the truth was almost equalled 
by the anguish of doubt. The torments of his mind 
were killing, the thoughts of Marie Louise having de- 
ceived him, of leaving him, caused that poignant suffer- 
ing to which only such an imaginative brain is liable. 
And yet he continued with the tenacity of an inquisitor 


367 


to press question after question upon the ladies, fixing 
his eyes intently on them as though he would read their 
secret thoughts from the expression of their faces. 

“ Then you think, Duchess, that I am the victim of a 
delusion in thus suspecting the presence of M. de Neip- 
perg here at night?” said the Emperor in a somewhat 
less irritated tone. “You really believe that Madame 
de Montebello has spoken the truth when she stated 
that her errand was to deliver to M. de Neipperg a con- 
fidential letter intended for my father-in-law ? ” 

“ Sire, I am convinced it is the truth, nothing but the 
truth,” replied Catharine. 

“ I wish I could believe it were true,” Napoleon 
murmured. 

“ But, sire, you have the means of verifying the state- 
ment of Madame de Montebello.” 

“Tell me the means.” 

“ Her Majesty the Empress is sleeping. She knows 
nothing of what has happened in the palace.” 

“ Nothing! Secrecy and silence have been kept, and 
I posted sentinels around her door so none might 
approach either her or her ladies.” 

“Very well, sire; assume that you have discovered 
nothing and permit Madame de Montebello to terminate 
her errand under your own eyes, then you can determine 
the truth or falsity of her statement.” 

“ Really, Duchess, you have good ideas and I will test 
it as you suggest. Only,” he continued, seizing Madame 
de Montebello by the arm, clutching it fiercely, “ you 
want to be very careful that you do not try any double 
game, madame. Notone word, not a gesture that would 
warn the Empress. Go! I shall watch you ! ” 

At the Emperor’s order the Lady of Honor was 
permitted to pass the sentinels and enter the apartment 
of the Empress; her limbs were trembling, her heart 
was racked with fear, for she was not conscious that 
Marie Louise had been warned by hearing the loud 
voice of Lefebvre addressing the guards and directing 
that any letter coming from the Empress and addressed 
to the Emperor of Austria should be taken at once to 
Napoleon. 

Napoleon, his mind feverish and his hands clasping 
impulsively, stood with his arm resting on the back of a 
chair, his eyes staring towards Marie Louise’s bedroom, 
where Madame de Montebello had entei^d and was 
then saying to the Empress, in a sufficiently loud voice 


368 


for Napoleon to overhear: “ Madame, M. de Neipperg, 
who sends me for the reply you promised him, is in the 
ante-chamber waiting. What shall I tell him ? ” 

The Empress started as one aroused from sleep, 
stretched her arms and reaching to a table standing be- 
side her bed, she took a sealed letter and handed it to 
Madame de Montebello, saying: 

Here is my reply. Present my compliments to M. de 
Neipperg and excuse me to him because I am so sleepy.” 

The Lady of Honor hastily withdrew and handed the 
letter to Napoleon. 

“ My dear Louise,” he exclaimed, “ she does love me.” 

Then speaking to the two ladies he added: 

“You are right, ladies, not one word that would 
alarm a jealous husband, nothing but politics. A word 
only of M. de Neipperg, my dear Louise asks her father 
to select another ’messenger hereafter as the presence 
of the Comte at my Court is not acceptable and is 
commented upon by the papers. Ah, Duchess, I am 
indeed happy,” and Napoleon’s joyous voice verified his 
words. 

“ Now, sire, that your fears are allayed,” said Catha- 
rine as Napoleon playfully pinched her cheek, “ I hope 
you will countermand your orders for a court-martial 
to try M. de Neipperg.” 

“ Yes, if he will leave at once and follow the advice of ' 
the Empress, if he will get out of France. And yet, he 
is evidently the victim of my father-in-law’s desire to 
know whether I make his daughter happy. Well, you 
go and see M. de Neipperg.” 

And the Emperor forgot his suspicions, the smile re- 
turned to his lips, his anger disappeared. He called M. 
de Remusat. 

“Take M. de Neipperg’s sword, it is on my desk and 
carry it to him. Advise him to make better use of it 
hereafter.” 

“ And what further ? ” 

“Conduct M. de Neipperg to his carriage and wish 
him bon voyage. M. de Neipperg is free.” 

“ M. de Neipperg is dead !” said a voice behind the 
Chamberlain. It was Savary who had entered, accom- 
panied by his aides and officers. 

“Dead! You have already shot him?” exclaimed 
the Emperor. “Why such haste? You were directed 
to wait until daybreak ? ” 

“ Sire, that was my intention, but M. de Neipperg tried 


3^9 


to escape. He got out through the window but for- 
tunately a guard was posted there. A carriage was 
awaiting him near by and the guards seized him and 
drove to the place of execution in the forest where he 
was shot. The Duke d’Otranto was there ” 

“ Entirely by chance, Your Majesty,” said Fouche. 

“The Duke will assure Your Majesty that everything 
occurred as I have had the honor to report.” 

“You have made a sad mistake,” said the Emperor. 
“ I was about to release M. de Neipperg; he came here, I 
know now, as a courier simply. Is that not so, Fouche ? ” 

“ It is, Your Majesty. If I had had the honor to have 
been yet Minister of Police, I should have believed an 
error had been made, that the Emperor had been mis- 
informed ” 

“ It is regretable you were not Minister,” Napoleon 
interrupted. 

“ Sire, pardon me, because I acted as though I were.” 
replied Fouche. 

“ How so ? ” 

“ Convinced there had been a mistake made and that 
Your Majesty would be persuaded of the innocence of 
all the parlies involved and would regret that in a 
moment of anger you had shown no mercy to M. de Neip- 
perg, I took it upon myself to give the officers an order 
— they are all men I know and can trust — I ordered 
them to turn their back on the forest so soon as they 
had M. de Neipperg in the carriage, and start him on the 
road for Soissons — that is what I did as though I were 
yet Minister of Police.” 

“ You have done well ! ” cried the Emperor, delighted 
at this solution of the dilemma. 

“The officers obeyed me, sire, so well that M. de Neip- 
perg is not dead, as has been stated to Your Majesty by 
the Duke of Rovigo, who is not always exact in his 
information, but he is galloping towards Soissons 
where he will arrive after breakfast.” 

“ My compliments, Duke, you are a valuable agent. 
You have understood me where no one else could. But 
tell me, how did you know I would pardon the 
man ? ” 

“Well, sire, after having talked with tlie Duchess of 
Danzig” > 

“But suppose I had persisted in my determination, 
you then would have been assisting a State prisoner to 
escape, and that is a serious offense.” 


370 


Sire, I sent officers on in advance, v^rho are now wait- 
ing at Soissons to hear from me by courier before they 
permit M. de Neipperg to continue his journey.” 

“You are the devil, you provide for everything,” the 
Emperor murmured, all his good humor displaying 
itself and stepping to the side of the Marchioness, he 
continued : 

“ I believe it is time, Duchess, that you should re- 
turn to your husband; as for me, I shall join the Em- 
press and assure her that her letter left for Vienna.” 

Marshal Lefebvre agitated and showing evidences of 
his grief entered the room and saluting Napoleon asked 
for his orders for the court-martial. 

“ The Emperor has pardoned him,” cried Catharine, 
“and. he’ll never ask us again to be divorced.” 

“Bravo, and thanks, sire !” said the Marshal. 

“ Lefebvre, when a man has a wife like that he should 
take good care of her,” the Emperor said, squeezing, 
the arm of the Duchess. 

Happy in the confidence that Marie Louise had not 
forgotten her vows, pleased at having pardoned and 
satisfied that Neipperg, thanks to Fouche, had escaped 
the bullets of Savary, Napoleon seizing Catharine 
around the waist embraced her ardently to the great 
surprise of the officers, and said: 

“ Good night, Madame Sans-Gene ! ” 

And his heart filled with joy, he entered the bed- 
chamber of Marie Louise. 


THE END. 


pit 709 Ml 


} 














oo 





•V 


0 o 



^ ,\« <' 

\ , t>- 

^ ^ I 

LT 

'V Jf^Jf //p2^ ^ ^ 

*>^ \ ^ ' 

o o' 




p -u 



S « O * ^ ^ ff 1 \ 

^ -x / C* \’ , 

» 4 ’^'. .i. A. » . 

^ I -T _ ^ , -' ^ 

'\'* S' ° 

^ A 

,ONO 



0 ij. K 




v^' 


^ I I A 

cP\'”^- ^ 

-o 0 ^ : 


✓ 

-siu j’ 

A^AO' ,.o '°U. ••<'"' 

^ ff ^ .0 ^ ^ f' c* 

A -'A -o c. ^ 

o '-cP,. ..v\" 



.0 


•%'?-* ^r y 

^ h 'N ^ Vj 

v'\ 'i::.' ^ ” ^<:'- 





c 

‘ > 

r^ f 'XV5-^ <i o i. ' O't/^ O :’ ^ <r 

^ ° - /°'o ’ ' " ' ^^t ’ ,>°' , 

A .r\^,i^’/i, ''■ C<'. .V. <. .r, ^ 



V C.S'-’ ^ rCl^C/ 




'^-- 


/ n I '^ '\ » O '''' 

" ^\\ - 0 N f,' ^/. ' -> ^ 




A-'' , , . . V s 0 ^ . 0 - 

. ''’ ' . -i- 

xvv ^ . ^v'-'OSSlE^': % t. 



\- ^ 

Wk^ - 




o tl '£ 5 > -i 

' o » \ - X 

t A. .# 

■''^^- 1 ?' =' 

= xO °< ” 



* o>’ 

■ 3 , - 0 ^ -- *< 

c»~», Ab. ” , 0 " ."' ' * • A. 

- - ^’ ''^i^!^ ^ A 

^ x. \ ‘ ^ 


^ 0 






V 

o o' 




■r* '• 




o 


^ ,0 


,0 




V s "» <* / 


^V 

0 ’o . t tP ; 

N * /» 'I I ' \ ' 

V 0 ^ ^ C' ‘ 

^ 'V\%"\'= \, ,/■ 

^ X cX ’ -■ - ?> ^ 

'« Aq , ,- 0 ^ s ‘ ' . ' % 




•T\ 




0 N 0 




'X' 




v ^ V 



V 

o 0^ 




xO C> 

/Ji'^ v’ v^ ' '*^ ' "^ '' ^ 

' ” v^'", ' . ' * » , ''^c. ’ ' ‘ ' ■ v" s ' ' 

^ « ■\'*o ^ ^ 

.V* ' siltl(!!'fll(|lL/'^fc ^ i.**X f\'''^l^' A Vi ^ 

,^^'' •^= 4iBS - *^||^?), = '-^^4^ ■> 

Z “r# 

:>r A >. ^ 





^ N 


^ * i ) •>. \^ .’\ 




^0 


\ 



0 , X 


\ 


^ ^ 

^ 

' o _o c* ^ 

>t^ ^ /C^ c:» ^ ^ ' 

^ ■% ^'r \V 

^ %ih ® ^ -x'^ 

c '^ O ;■ aX *'’ '^ y > 


A V 


= x^ 

-<■. ^ ’^'iv '* ^ ' 

, , ^ 0 M 0 " C.O 

-V X 0 ^ , J . '> ** 0 / ' c * 

IWI^ - ^ r(X\^S A o 




<P 


^ iP ^ v '^ ’-^ C ' . vVr ^’ 



A V 


0 o 



''.7' .' A%'«- 

'* 0 , ■'?:. "' 7 ^77'^, 



V. 

® 'tf/ 

* ^ ^ * r> r 

<b ' 0 , X '*' .A O 

^ A^'' c « ^ -f 


W o 



X^b<. 





V j 


Vj 5 

,., ,. ,'^»'o’ %• ''* 

Y « 0 ^ 9 ' ' " \^ s '' <■ / -5 S 0 ^ -N 

^ ^ / C* \' S ' ff 

'^. > ,.A 

Y . ■<> A .' * 



J-t'"; 


/ ^ *\ 

\ . 0 ^ < 

^ *> 

^ •^>r ^\ ^ tfSAx 

V * 

7°., 

.9^ Y, ' f' A '^b 

^ 4y 



if //^i^v '‘>y » \V </> 
* Ifei ^ . 


>* 


■>, ^ A> '^■ 

rj^ /» ^ i^'- 

r. , V- ^ o <r ^ ^ 

^ ^ ,-0' Y ’ * v 'b 

.1 . ■ 1 .On , <- 



.b 


X) ^ 






0 N C ^ . 



•d 

a['S2' « 


s. Y-^ ^ 


o 0 






